GLIMPSES  OF 
KOREA 


by 

E.  J.  Urquhart 


LIBRARY  OF  PRINCETON 


JAN  2 3 


THEOLOGICAL 


Printed  in  U.  S.  A. 

Pacific  Press  Publishing  Association 


MOUNTAIN  VIEW,  CALIFORNIA,  U.  S.  A. 
Kansas  City,  Mo.  Portland,  Ore.  St.  Paul,  Minn. 

Brookfield,  III.  Cristobal,  C.  Z. 


2003 


SEMINARY 


Copyright,  1923,  by 
Pacific  Press  Publishing  Association 


CONTENTS 


\ 


Page 

A Land  with  a Marvelous  History 7 

Our  First  Journey 19 

The  Gods  of  the  Spring  and  Mountain  ....  28 

Market  Day  in  Korea 38 

The  Trip  to  Quelpart  and  Back 48 

A Look  in  at  the  Soonan  Mission 59 

Some  Strange  Customs 65 

At  the  Union  Conference  Office 77 

Tombs  and  Watchers 84 

The  Sad  Funeral  Trains 90 

At  the  Church  Service 


97 


AO  my  nieces  and  nephews,  and 
to  the  children  throughout  the 
world,  this  book  is  lovingly  dedi- 
cated by  the  author. 

E.  J.  Urquhart. 

Seoul , Korea. 


“Korea  tried  to  shut  itself  away  from 
the  world,  like  a hermit  in  his  hut.  . . . 
But  the  day  of  opening  doors  came,  and 
Korea’s  long-barred  gates  were  swung 
ajar.  . . . Upon  many  troubled  hearts  in 
the  Land  of  Morning  Calm  has  dawned 
the  day  of  salvation.” — W.  A.  Spicer . 


SOME  OF  THE  GODS  OF  KOREA 


A Land  with  a Marvelous  History 

Beginning  Back  in  Early  Bible  Times  — Kwicha,  the 
Wise  — Koreans  Built  the  First  Suspension  Bridge  and 
Battle  Cruisers  — Grafting  Officials  — Japan  Comes  In 
— Funny  Hats,  Long  Coats , Big  Pantaloons  — A Beauti- 
ful Country  Now 

Are  you  all  here?  Why,  there  are  Teresa, 
Elnora,  Freda,  Kate,  Jimmie,  and  Dwane. 
Yes,  all  are  present.  I am  a little  surprised, 
too,  for  I thought  some  of  you  would  he  sea- 
sick after  our  rough  night.  Many  persons 
who  have  crossed  the  waters  of  the  broad 
Pacific  from  the  Golden  Gate  of  San  Fran- 
cisco to  Yokohama,  Japan,  without  a twinge 
of  seasickness,  find  this  narrow  strip  of  water, 
called  the  Korea  Straits,  over  which  you  can 
cross  in  a single  night,  just  a little  too  much 
to  stand. 

I am  glad  you  were  more  fortunate,  and  are 
all  here  on  deck  ready  to  catch  the  first  dis- 
tant glimpse  of  Korea.  Now  look  ahead  over 
the  bow  of  the  boat.  In  the  distance,  you  can 
discern  a dark  bank  of  clouds;  that  is  a sign 
that  we  are  nearing  land. 

Now  while  breakfast  is  preparing,  and  be- 
fore we  actually  see  Korea,  I want  to  tell  you 
a little  of  the  history  of  the  country. 

One  time,  a woman  who  had  spent  some 
years  in  Korea  said  to  me,  “I  am  glad  it 
takes  a long  time  to  learn  the  language.”  I 

(7) 


8 


Glimpses  of  Korea 


couldn’t  imagine  what  she  meant — “glad 
it  takes  a long  time  to  learn  the  language”! 
I thought  maybe  it  was  all  an  Eastern  joke, 
for  they  are  always  hard  to  understand. 
Then  she  said:  “You  see,  it  is  best  that  we 
know  the  people  before  we  know  the  language, 
or  else  we  would  be  making  so  many  mistakes. 
Their  way  of  thinking  is  as  far  from  ours 
as  the  two  countries  are  from  each  other.” 

Well,  I could  hardly  appreciate  such  deep 
wisdom  then,  but  I understand  better  now.  I 
have  found  out  that  one  of  the  best  ways  to 
learn  about  this  nation,  with  all  its  strange 
customs,  is  to  look  back  over  the  centuries  and 
see  all  the  bends  in  the  road  down  which  they 
have  come. 

BEGINNING  AT  ABOUT  DAVID’S  TIME 

Away  back  in  the  days  of  Israel,  when 
David,  the  shepherd  boy,  watched  his  father’s 
sheep  on  the  hills  surrounding  Bethlehem, 
the  great  Shan  dynasty,  or  rulership,  of  China 
was  overthrown  by  a man  named  Mu.  At 
that  time,  there  was  a great  statesman  in 
China  whose  name  was  Ivwicha.  He  was  the 
one  exception  to  a group  of  men  who  were 
cruel,  corrupt,  and  wicked. 

Back  in  those  days,  when  one  dynasty  or 
king  overthrew  another,  every  man  who  held 
any  office  of  responsibility  was  ruthlessly  de- 
stroyed. But  this  man  Kwicha  was  so  highly 


A Land  with  a Marvelous  History  9 

esteemed  even  by  his  enemies,  that  he  was 
allowed  to  leave  the  country.  So,  gathering  a 
few  thousand  loyal  followers  around  him,  he 
went  eastward  to  the  Yellow  Sea.  There  he 
made  his  way  in  junks,  or  ships,  to  the  then 
little  known  land  of  Korea. 

Landing  near  the  mouth  of  the  Taidong 
Eiver,  he  sailed  up  that  stream  to  the  present 
location  of  Pyengyang.  Here  he  built  his  capi- 
tal and  established  a kingdom.  Korea  at 
v that  time  was  inhabited  by  a savage,  wild  race 
of  people  who  dwelt  in  caves  and  crude  mud 
huts.  They  knew  little  of  agriculture,  spend- 
ing most  of  their  time  fighting  the  other  wild 
and  fierce  tribes  to  the  north. 

Kwicha  became  very  much  interested  in  the 
savage  peoples  about  him,  so  he  decided  to  do 
what  he  could  to  educate  them  and  help  them. 
He  was  a farsighted  chief,  who  looked  ahead 
to  the  day  when  there  would  be  a great  empire 
in  that  region. 

The  first  thing  that  Kwicha  did  was  to  learn 
the  language  and  customs  of  the  native 
peoples.  He  commanded  that  his  followers 
do  likewise.  He  knew  that  he  could  not  help 
those  about  him  until  he  thoroughly  under- 
stood them.  He  was  truly  a great  man  and 
a great  philosopher  to  appreciate  that  this 
method  was  the  wisest  and  best.  Although  a 
heathen,  he  was  a farseeing  ruler.  Jesus 
Himself  used  this  great  principle  of  under- 


10  Glimpses  of  Korea 

standing  those  about  Him  as  a way  of  helping 
them. 

Kwicha  in  his  new  location  began  by  train- 
ing some  of  the  natives  in  self-government 
and  in  agriculture  and  in  silk-weaving  and 
silkworm-growing.  He  was  so  successful  that 
before  he  died,  he  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing 
people  who  had  been  warlike  and  savage,  on 
the  road  to  a peaceful,  happy  kingdom. 

After  Kwicha  ’&  death,  little  is  known  of 
Korea  for  several  centuries.  The  next  time 
that  we  hear  of  Korea  is  in  the  first  century 
before  Christ.  Then  there  were  three  separate 
and  independent  kingdoms.  These  were  Silla 
in  the  south,  Pakchai  in  the  center,  and 
Kokuro,  from  which  we  get  the  word  Korea, 
in  the  north.  For  many  centuries,  these  three 
kingdoms  fought  among  themselves.  Some- 
times it  was  two  against  one,  and  sometimes 
one  was  neutral  while  the  other  two  fought. 

Sometimes  China  sent  her  soldiers  up  to 
Korea  for  the  “fun”  of  robbing  and  destroy- 
ing. But  it  was  not  always  as  much  “fun”  as 
China  wished,  far  back  in  those  early  cen- 
turies ; for  history  says  that  many  times, 
the  tiger  hunters  and  soldiers  of  Korea  were 
more  than  equal  to  the  Chinese,  often  making 
them  beat  a hasty  and  disordered  retreat  back 
to  the  country  from  which  they  came. 

Finally,  in  the  seventh  century,  the  south- 
ern kingdom  conquered  the  center  one,  and 


A Land  with  a Marvelous  History  11 

seven  years  later,  the  northern  kingdom  fell 
before  the  victorious  arms  of  the  strong  power 
of  the  south.  This  united  kingdom  became 
known  as  the  Tai  Han  kingdom,  or  Chosen. 
Most  folks  have,  until  quite  recently,  insisted 
on  calling  it  by  the  ancient  name  Korea. 

LAND  AHEAD 

We  must  stop  our  story  now,  for  there’s 
the  breakfast  gong.  Let  us  go  and  eat. 

But  look  ahead  once  more.  Ho  you  see  that 
dark  gray  streak  in  the  distance  there,  lying 
right  near  the  water  line'?  That  is  just  a 
faint  outline  of  the  low-lying  mountains  of 
Korea;  and  when  we  return  from  breakfast, 
we  shall  be  able  to  distinguish  easily  the  rock- 
bound  coast. 

On  deck  again,  and,  oh,  see!  The  land  is 
now  quite  clear.  It  seems  as  if  it  were  all 
mountains,  doesn’t  it?  And  this  is  the  way 
Korea  looks  its  whole  length  of  seven  hundred 
miles.  But  there  are  valleys  among  the 
mountains,  thousands  of  them,  small  ones  and 
big  ones,  extending  along  the  rivers  and  the  ' 
creeks.  I think  none  of  them  are  wider  than 
ten  miles ; and  even  these  are  so  crooked  that 
you  can  see  but  a short  distance  up  or  down 
them,  and  thus  even  they  appear  small. 

Now,  listen  a few  minutes  more  and  I will 
finish  my  little  historical  sketch  of  the  country 
before  we  actually  land. 


12 


Glimpses  of  Korea 


After  the  three  nations  of  the  Korean  pen- 
insula became  one,  there  was  a long  time  when 
Korea  was  one  of  the  great  leading  nations  of 
the  East.  In  war,  she  successfully  repelled  a 
mighty  and  determined  Japanese  invasion  in 
the  latter  part  of  the  sixteenth  century;  and 
some  forty  years  later,  the  Manchus  who 
successfully  overthrew  the  Chinese  empire, 
were  glad  to  withdraw  with  a small  tribute. 

Then,  too,  Korea  led  the  East  and  the  world 
in  inventions.  The  first  metal  type  ever  used 
was  cast  here.  They  built  the  first  suspension 
bridge  known  to  the  world.  During  the  war 
with  Japan  that  I just  spoke  of,  they  con- 
structed the  first  armored  battle  cruiser  that 
ever  sailed  the  seas ; and  it  was  this  ship  that 
gained  the  victory  for  Korea,  for  with  it  they 
destroyed  in  one  day  a whole  Japanese  fleet 
of  more  than  two  score  vessels. 

The  Koreans  were  also  expert  in  the  manu- 
facture of  tile  and  crockery.  Nor  were  they 
behind  in  the  sciences  as  known  a few  cen- 
turies ago.  At  Kyung  Ju,  North  Kyung  San 
Province,  is  an  observatory  that  is  supposed 
to  be  the  oldest  in  the  world,  having  been 
constructed  in  647  a.  d.  Their  knowledge  of 
science  gave  them  a very  good  understanding 
of  the  movements  of  the  stars  and  planets. 

it’s  all  different  now 
But  don’t  think  that  you  are  going  to  see 
great  things  now  when  you  land,  for  the 


A Land  with  a Marvelous  History  13 

glory  of  Korea  is  all  in  the  past.  After 
Korea  had  learned  so  much  and  had  advanced 
so  far  along  the  road  of  civilization,  a time 
came  when  the  officials  all  over  the  land  be- 
came most  corrupt.  They  began  to  rob  and 
abuse  the  poorer  and  common  people.  If  any 
refused  to  do  as  the  officials  wished,  or  did 
not  give  enough  gold,  or  land,  or  horses,  or 
their  beautiful  daughters  or  wives,  then  they 
were  whipped  until  they  were  willing  to  give, 
or  until  they  died.  This  whipping  in  Korea  is 
called  “ being  put  under  the  paddle.” 

In  Western  countries,  such  practices  of 
obtaining  money  and  such  extortion  are  called 
graft.  Korea  fell  into  the  hands  of  grafters. 
Each  official  became  a terror  to  the  country 
over  which  he  ruled.  He  held  his  office  by 
passing  along  large  sums  of  money  to  the 
governor  of  the  province. 

The  office  of  the  governor  was  sold  to  the 
highest  bidder  by  the  king,  who  was  as  bad 
as  the  rest.  Each  desired  to  make  as  much 
money  out  of  the  people  as  possible. 

KOREA  CHANGES  RULERS 

It  is  no  wonder  that  before  many  years 
had  rolled  along,  the  people  became  discour- 
aged. They  stopped  working  — for  what  was 
the  use  of  working  when  only  the  cruel  and 
mean  officials  obtained  all  the  benefits?  The 
rulers  became  worse  and  worse. 


2 


14 


Glimpses  of  Korea 


Korea  was  in  just  this  terrible  condition 
when  the  Western  world  discovered  the  East- 
ern world  — when  America  and  Europe, 
through  their  ships  and  their  trading,  came 
in  contact  with  the  ancient  peoples  of  the 
East. 

Many  people  felt  that  it  was  time  to  save 
the  kingdom  of  Korea  from  its  own  officials 
and  corrupt  and  cruel  government.  China 
had  long  claimed  that  she  had  the  first  right 
to  rule  the  land,  but  China  was  herself  in  a 
bad  way  — trouble  and  revolution. 

At  about  this  time,  the  nation  that  is  called 
‘ ‘ the  great  bear ” — Russia  — was  feeling 
about  in  the  Far  East.  Russia  found  Korea, 
and  began  to  enter  the  country.  Then  Japan 
became  aroused,  because  she  did  not  wish 
Russia  so  close  to  her  borders,  and  there  was 
the  Russo-Japanese  War.  The  result  of  this 
war  was  that  in  1910  Japan  took  possession 
of  the  country. 

Japan  immediately  set  about  her  self- 
appointed  work  of  cleaning  up  the  country. 
The  robber  bands  were  suppressed,  schools 
were  established,  roads  and  railways,  tele- 
graph, telephones,  and  mails  were  started. 
Soon  the  country  began  to  look  better.  The 
common  people,  instead  of  being  robbed,  were 
helped  in  various  ways.  There  were  model 
farms  established,  and  experiment  stations 
and  agricultural  colleges  set  in  operation.  The 


A Land  with  a Marvelous  History  15 

farmers  were  able  to  grow  more  and  more 
crops.  The  rolling  hills  of  the  country  were 
again  green  with  the  thousands  of  trees  that 
were  planted  by  the  government. 

The  country  in  ten  years  has  grown  from 
one  that  could  hardly  feed  its  own  people  to 
one  that  is  selling  food  and  supplies  to  far- 


Transplanting  rice,  or  “paddy.”  The  people  over  here  make  rice  their  staple 
article  of  diet. 


away  nations.  Where  there  was  barrenness, 
now  there  is  beauty.  Dollars  are  now  more 
common  than  cents  were  before.  There  has 
been  a great  change. 

RICE  FIELDS  — CITY  OF  FUSAN 

Isn’t  that  really  a beautiful  little  island 
over  there  right  in  the  mouth  of  the  harbor? 
See  the  young  pine  and  fir  trees  that  almost 
cover  it.  Notice  the  rice  fields  rising  terrace 


16 


Glimpses  of  Korea 


above  terrace  almost  to  the  top  of  the  hill. 
From  this  on,  wherever  you  go  through  the 
land,  you  will  see  fields  of  rice,  or  “ paddy,’ ’ 
for  the  people  over  here  make  rice  their  staple 
article  of  diet,  as  we  do  wheat  in  America. 

If  you  look  ahead,  you  can  see  the  city  of 
Fusan.  Notice  how  many  ships  there  are  in 
the  harbor.  This  is  the  first  port  of  the  land 
in  point  of  shipping.  Now  you  can  see  the 
pier  where  we  are  to  land.  That  large  brick 
structure  just  beyond  is  the  Station  Hotel. 
You  see  where  the  city  extends  along  the  beach 
for  miles.  There  are  not  many  brick  build- 
ings and  not  many  large  houses,  are  there? 
However,  this  is  a typical  Japanese  city. 

You  know  Fusan  is  almost  as  much  a Jap- 
anese city  as  is  any  city  in  J apan  proper,  be- 
cause for  centuries  the  J apanese  have  claimed 
Fusan  as  a foreign  fishing  station.  In  fact, 
at  the  time  of  the  great  Japanese  invasion  of 
which  I told  you,  the  privilege  of  holding  this 
city  permanently  was  allowed  the  Japanese. 

Now  we  are  nearing  the  pier.  It  looks  very 
much  like  the  wharf  in  San  Francisco  from 
which  we  sailed,  doesn’t  it?  Stand  up  here 
at  the  rail  so  that  you  can  see  things  better. 
No,  those  men  over  there  wearing  the  odd 
little  hats  are  not  circus  clowns.  Those  little 
woven  horsehair  hats  are  a part  of  the  natives 9 
dress.  You  will  meet  them  wherever  you  go. 
And  those  long  white  gowns  are  not  automobile 


A Land  with  a Marvelous  History  17 

dusters,  but  are  the  regular  coats  used  over 
here.  They  look  very  queer  to  you  now,  I 
know,  but  you  will  get  used  to  them  as  you 
see  them  more. 

LOOK  LIKE  FUNNY  CLOTHES 

What  do  the  people  wear  those  strange  hats 
for?  Well,  really,  I don’t  know.  They  seem 
to  give  no  protection  from  the  cold,  and  are 
no  guard  against  the  sun  and  the  rain;  yet 
the  Koreans  will  wear  them  in  spite  of  every- 
thing. But  I think  the  little  hat  is  doomed  to 
go.  It  can’t  stand  out  much  longer  against  the 
clothes  of  the  foreigners.  Already,  in  the 
city  of  Seoul,  you  see  more  foreign  hats  than 
native. 

Now  when  you  ask  them  about  the  hat,  they 
in  turn  ask  you  some  questions  that  are  hard 
to  answer.  They  want  to  know  why  men’s 
coats  have  buttons  sewed  on  the  sleeves,  and 
they  ask  many  more  questions  like  that.  So 
we’ll  have  to  keep  still,  I think,  about  the  dinky 
little  hat,  and  let  them  wear  it  if  they  think 
they  look  better  that  way.  I’ve  thought  that 
the  hat  was  first  made  to  cover  their  topknots ; 
for  if  you  look  closely  through  the  meshes  of 
the  hat,  you  will  see  that  each  man  has  a little 
twist  of  hair  sticking  straight  up  on  top  of 
his  head  about  three  inches  high  and  two 
inches  around.  Funny  looking  things  to  us! 


18 


Glimpses  of  Korea 


Do  you  see  the  legs  of  their  trousers  ? They 
are  very  large,  about  twice  as  large  as  you 
are  used  to  seeing  in  America..  The  people 
make  them  this  way  because  of  their  fashion 
of  always  sitting  on  the  floor  with  their  legs 
doubled  up.  This  means  that  they  have  to 
have  loose-fitting  clothes. 

Look  at  the  bottom  of  the  trouser  legs.  See 
how  they  are  tied  around  with  flashy-colored 
bands.  I don’t  know  why,  unless  these  are  a 
sort  of  necktie  worn  at  the  ankles. 

Now  that  the  steamer  has  been  made  fast 
and  the  gangplank  hoisted,  we  will  go  ashore. 
Across  there  not  a hundred  feet  away  is  the 
ferry  railroad  station,  while  there  is  another 
still  larger  station  about  a block  farther  up. 
We  shall  find  the  northbound  express  waiting 
here  for  us  to  board,  although  it  doesn’t  leave 
for  an  hour  or  so.  This  train  runs  from  here 
clear  through  to  Mukden,  Manchuria. 

I know  that  after  your  ride  through  J apan 
in  narrow-gauge  little  cars,  you  are  surprised 
to  see  this  American-looking  traih  with  its 
Baldwin  locomotive.  Korea  has  the  best  rail- 
road and  equipment  of  the  whole  East.  Per- 
haps this  is  because  it  was  installed  by  an 
American  firm.  I think  so,  anyway. 


Our  First  Journey 


Where  Wagons  Are  Drawn  by  Bulls  — The  “Gike” — All 
Kinds  of  Fruit  — Children  Without  Clothes  Traveling  — 
Houses  with  Fire  but  No  Chimneys  — Paper  Instead  of 
Glass  — The  First  Mission  Station  — Living  Alone  in  a 
Strange  Land 


Since  we  have  our  baggage  all  safely  on 
the  train,  and  there  is  about  an  hour  left  to  us 
before  it  starts,  suppose  we  walk  up  the  street 
and  get  acquainted  with  things  Korean. 

It  looks  queer,  doesn’t  it,  to  see  so  many 
wagons  drawn  by  bulls?  In  Korea,  the  bull 

is  the  beast  of  all 
work.  He  is  used  for 
packing  and  for  haul- 
ing. In  some  other 
parts,  however,  there 
are  a good  many 
horses;  but  they  are 
small,  more  like  our 
Shetland  ponies  at 
home.  Unlike  the 
Shetland  ponies, 
though,  they  are  vi- 
cious and  undepend- 
able creatures. 

You  are  all  smiling 

You  are  wondering  what  strange  again  ! I Can  t blame 
call  that  a “gike”  in  Korea.  yOU.  1 SUppOSe  yOU 

(19) 


20 


Glimpses  of  Korea 


are  wondering  what  strange  thing  that  man 
has  on  his  back.  We  call  that  a gike  in  Korea. 
It  is  used  by  the  laborers  for  carrying  things. 
Here  comes  a man  with  a load  of  wood  larger 


In  Korea,  the  bull  is  the  beast  of  all  work. 


than  the  man  himself.  All  the  railroads,  the 
reservoirs,  and  the  ditches  have  had  the  dirt 
and  gravel  carried  on  these  gikes.  A man  puts 
a basket  on  one  of  them,  fills  it,  gets  under- 
neath, and  off  he  goes  on  the  trot. 

These  fellows  with  their  gikes  get  only 
about  twenty-five  cents  a day.  That  makes 
the  work  cheaper  than  it  could  be  done  with 
the  best  modern  machinery. 

FRUIT  OF  EVERY  KIND 

Look  at  the  fruit!  Just  about  every  kind 
that  is  to  be  had  in  America  is  here,  and  much 


Our  First  Journey 


21 


more  besides.  And  the  persimmons ! I think 
they  are  the  best  in  the  world  — great  fine 
ones,  as  large  as  apples.  The  persimmon  is 
a native  of  this  country,  and  grows  big  and 
juicy  and  good  without  any  attention  what- 
soever. They  are  cheaper  than  oranges  right 
in  the  orange  groves  of  Florida  and  Cali- 
fornia. 

Let  us  buy  some  of  the  fruit,  and  then 
we’ll  go  back  to  the  train.  In  about  two  hours 
and  a half,  we  shall  reach  Keizan,  where  our 
southern  mission  station  is  located.  You 
won’t  want  to  miss  a thing  that  you  can  see 
on  the  way,  either. 

This  train  seems  just  like  those  at  home. 
The  only  difference  is  that  the  seats  are  wide  on 
one  side  of  the  car  and  narrow  on  the  other. 
We’ll  take  these  wide  ones,  so  we  can  all  be 
in  a little  group  together.  Then  I can  tell 
you  about  the  things  we  see  as  we  go  along. 

There  are  some  Korean  children  on  one  side 
of  the  car,  and  without  any  clothes.  Thou- 
sands of  them  are  compelled  to  go  that  way  in 
the  summer  time ; and  even  in  the  cold,  freez- 
ing weather  of  winter,  in  the  country  districts, 
I have  seen  them  with  nothing  but  a little 
jacket  that  didn’t  come  below  the  waist  — 
not  merely  one  or  two,  but  hundreds  of  them. 

HOUSES  WITHOUT  WINDOWS  OR  CHIMNEYS 

We  are  passing  beyond  the  Japanese  part 
of  the  town  and  entering  the  Korean  now. 


22  Glimpses  of  Korea 

See  those  little  mud  huts  out  there  with  the 
thatched  roofs.  You  wouldn’t  guess  that 
people  lived  in  such  places,  would  you?  But 
if  you  notice  closely,  you  will  see.  people 
stooping  down  and  passing  through  the  little 
doorways.  Over  the  mud  and  stone  walls 


The  floor  of  the  Korean  house  is  heated  by  the  smoke  from  the 
kitchen  fireplace. 

that  surround  each  house,  you  can  see  the 
women  at  work  and  the  children  at  play. 
When  we  stop  off  at  Keizan,  we  will  visit 
some  of  these  houses,  so  that  you  will  know 
more  about  them. 

You  see  the  smoke  arising  from  somewhere 
near  the  bottom  of  a house,  and  still  there  is 


Our  First  Journey 


23 


no  chimney.  Let  me  try  to  explain.  The 
Korean  house  has  only  two  or  three  rooms, 
seldom  more,  and  one  of  these  is  three-sided, 
with  at  least  one  side  open,  and  serves  as  a 
kitchen.  The  living  rooms  are  generally  about 
eight  by  twelve  feet,  while  the  kitchen  is 
smaller.  The  floor  of  the  living  part  of  the 
house  is  raised  about  two  feet.  It  is  made  of 
flat  stones  overlaid  with  mud.  These  cover 
smoke  holes  through  which  the  smoke  from 
the  kitchen  fire  is  supposed  to  pass. 

The  floor  of  the  kitchen  is  the  ground,  and 
the  fire  box  is  on  the  side  next  to  the  living 
room.  This  fire  box  has  a large  kettle  on  top, 
packed  around  with  mud  and  rocks.  Thus, 
when  the  meals  are  cooked,  the  heat  is  sup- 
posed to  pass  through  the  openings  and  heat 
the  floor  of  the  living  room.  This  sort  of  hot- 
air furnace  is  the  only  kind  that  they  know; 
but  it  doesn’t  work  very  well,  for  much  of  the 
smoke  backs  up  and  gets  into  the  eyes  and 
face  of  the  one  who  is  cooking.  This  smoke 
gets  out  through  the  open  side  of  the  kitchen. 

In  the  kettle  over  the  fire,  the  food  for  the 
family  is  prepared.  It  consists  of  boiled  rice 
for  those  who  can  afford  it,  and  cooked  barley 
for  the  less  favored,  three  times  a day.  To 
the  rice  are  generally  added  native  pickled 
turnips,  and  side  dishes  of  a few  greens  or 
fish  or  some  kind  of  meat,  if  they  can  be 
afforded. 


24 


Glimpses  of  Korea 


You  notice  that  the  houses  have  no  win- 
dows ; but  the  doors,  which  are  merely  a light 
framework,  are  covered  with  a very  tough 
kind  of  Korean  paper.  This  is  put  on  every 
fall,  and  it  lasts  the  winter  out;  and  in  the 
spring,  it  is  removed,  and  left  off  till  cold 
weather  demands  its  use  again.  This  lets  in 
enough  light ; and  as  to  air,  the  Koreans  seem 
not  to  have  learned  as  yet  that  it  is  necessary. 
At  night,  when  they  are  burning  a lamp  or  a 
candle,  if  the  air  becomes  so  impure  that  the 
light  will  not  burn,  they  open  the  door  for  a 
moment,  not  for  their  own  benefit,  but  merely 
to  save  the  light. 

THROUGH  TUNNELS  TO  KEIZAN 

Maybe  you  have  been  wondering  all  the 
time  how  our  train  was  going  to  get  out  of 
the  little  mountain-inclosed  town  of  Fusan. 
I suppose  you  thought  that  we  should  have 
to  pass  through  a tunnel;  but  now  we  are 
passing  up  a small  canon.  Out  there  you 
see  the  paddy  fields  with  the  rice  all  headed 
out,  waving  beautifully  under  the  late  sum- 
mer sun.  The  paddy  fields  rise  one  above 
another  up  the  sides  of  the  hills.  Korea  has 
an  area  about  one  half  that  of  the  state  of 
California;  and  about  three  fourths  of  that 
small  area  consists  of  mountains.  But  even 
though  the  natives  are  not  so  skilled  in  grow- 
ing their  crops,  yet,  because  of  the  abundance 


Our  First  Journey  25 

of  rain  and  warm  sunshine,  Korea  supports 
a population  fully  five  times  that  of  fertile 
California  — over  sixteen  millions  of  people. 
Surely  God  is  kind  to  Korea. 

Before  we  reach  Keizan,  let  me  tell  you 
something  about  the  mission  station  and  our 
work  in  the  south  part  of  Korea.  This  is  the 
story  of  how  the  gospel  conquered  in  this  part : 
Some  time  ago,  a Korean  gentleman,  while 
traveling  in  Japan,  passed  down  the  road  by 
our  Kobe  sanitarium.  He  noticed  on  the 
building  the  Chinese  characters  which  indi- 
cated our  church.  For  some  reason,  the 
Korean  was  very  much  interested,  and  he 
went  into  the  sanitarium  to  ask  questions. 

He  and  one  of  our  Japanese  ministers  were 
able  to  hold  a written  conversation;  and  in 
this  way,  the  traveler  heard  about  the  seventh- 
day  Sabbath  and  other  truth.  When  he  re- 
turned to  his  home  in  Korea,  he  told  other 
people  of  what  he  had  learned ; and  those  whom 
he  told  became  very  much  interested.  Before 
long,  there  were  hundreds  who  knew  of  the 
glad  news  of  the  gospel. 

A little  later,  some  of  our  ministers  from 
Japan,  with  some  Japanese  believers,  visited 
Korea,  and  talked  to  the  new  believers  who 
had  learned  of  the  truth  through  the  Korean 
traveler.  It  didn’t  take  our  missionaries  long 
to  appreciate  that  it  was  time  to  open  a 
mission  in  Korea. 


26 


Glimpses  of  Korea 


In  the  fall  of  1906,  Missionary  W.  R. 
Smith  and  Mrs.  Smith  opened  the  first  mission 
in  Korea.  They  spent  their  first  winter  in  the 
city  of  Seoul,  and  then  moved  up  to  Soonan, 
where  the  headquarters  for  the  West  Chosen 
Conference  are  at  the  present  time,  and  where 
our  hospital  is  located.  These  first  mission- 
aries are  still  working  for  the  Koreans. 

THE  WORK  GROWS 

As  the  people  became  more  and  more  in- 
terested, it  was  necessary  to  open  other  mission 
stations.  So  in  Seoul,  the  capital,  there  is 
now  a mission  station;  and  the  publishing 
work  is  located  there. 

But  with  these  lights  burning  brightly  for 
the  gospel,  there  was  need  of  another  station 
down  in  the  southern  part  of  the  country,  where 
most  of  the  people  are  located.  Another  light 
was  soon  to  be  put  there.  Missionary  R.  C. 
Wangerin  and  his  wife  went  to  the  southern 
section  of  the  country.  In  the  summer  of  1912, 
they  lived  in  a tent  while  the  little  four-roomed 
mission  cottage  was  being  built.  Many  com- 
panies of  Koreans  were  soon  ready  to  believe 
and  accept  whole-heartedly  the  gospel.  But 
while  working  for  these  heathen  people,  Mr. 
Wangerin  became  very  sick,  and  later  he  died 
— the  first  missionary  who  laid  down  his  life 
for  the  gospel  in  Chosen. 


Our  First  Journey 


27 


Here  is  another  tunnel,  the  last  one  for 
to-day,  before  we  reach  Keizan.  There  only 
Miss  May  Scott  is  located,  holding  the  mission 
fort  all  alone  until  other  missionaries  come  to 
help  her.  How  would  you  like  to  be  all  alone 
in  a strange  land,  among  strange  people,  with 
the  next  Adventist  mission  station  over  two 
hundred  miles  away?  That  is  the  way  it  is 
with  Miss  Scott  right  now,  but  she  is  willing 
to  brave  it  all  for  the  sake  of  the  gospel 
message. 

There  are  going  to  be  many  things  to  see 
while  we  stop  over  here  with  her  and  the 
Korean  believers.  Let’s  get  our  traveling 
bags  together  now;  for  the  train  only  stops 
about  half  a minute,  and  we’ll  have  to  get 
off  in  a hurry. 


The  Gods  of  the  Spring  and 
Mountain 

“Pyngan  Hasumnaka?” — Food  and  Clothing  from 
U.  S.  A. — Strange  Church  Customs  — A Colored  Bush 
— Feeding  the  Spirits  — The  Country-Wide  Cemetery  — 
Visiting  the  Cave  — Sleeping  on  the  Floor 

“P 

-t  YNGAN  hasumnaka?”  say  the  native  be- 
lievers at  the  Keizan  Mission  Station,  while 
Miss  Scott  shakes  our  hands,  and  we  are  glad 
to  hear  the  language  that  we  can  really  under- 
stand. But  the  native  greeting  means,  “Are 
you  peaceful?”  which  is  their  way  of  saying, 
“How  do  you  do?” 

Yes,  we’ll  walk  up  to  the  house,  for  we  can 
then  get  better  acquainted  with  the  town  and 
the  people.  We  came  to  Korea  to  get  ac- 
quainted, didn’t  we? 

What  joy  to  be  in  a home  that  seems  so 
much  like  home  back  in  America!  How  our 
mouths  water  when  we  see  the  food  from 
America,  the  good  kind  of  food  that  we  have 
been  used  to  eating  at  home ! Then  we  realize 
that  even  the  food  that  the  foreign  mission 
folks  have  comes  from  across  the  water,  along 
the  same  tiresome,  long  route  that  we  took  to 
get  here. 

Butter,  cooking  oils,  canned  milk,  dried 
fruit,  sirups,  breakfast  foods  of  all  kinds, 
and  many  other  things,  reach  our  mission- 

(28) 


Gods  of  the  Spring  and  Mountain  29 

aries  here  in  this  way.  But  for  such  things 
as  flour,  beans,  eggs,  and  vegetables,  we  must 
depend  on  the  native  folks.  And  they  have  a 
plenty  of  these  things.  The  things  that  come 
from  America  are,  of  course,  quite  expensive, 
because  of  the  freight  and  the  very  high 
customs  duty.  But  really  we  get  along  better 
for  food  than  for  clothes.  Especially  do  the 
women  missionaries  find  it  hard  to  get  such 
clothes  here  as  they  want. 

You  see,  a good  many  of  the  Japanese  men 
and  some  Koreans  nowadays  wear  foreign 
shoes  and  foreign  suits,  so  there  are  cobblers 
and  tailors.  But  few  care  much  about  what 
the  women  wear.  They  do  not  have  any  idea 
how  to  make  women’s  shoes  or  women’s  suits 
and  dresses.  Our  women  missionaries  must 
become  dressmakers  in  order  to  provide  them- 
selves with  the  proper  clothes.  Their  shoes 
have  to  come  by  mail  from  America.  It’s  no 
joy,  either,  but  very  perplexing,  after  a wait 
of  oyer  two  months,  to  find  the  much  needed 
shoes  to  be  of  the  wrong  size.  That  means 
another  wait  and  another  order. 

Let’s  go  over  to  the  church  near  by;  you 
have  finished  your  luncheon  now. 

THE  STRANGE  CHURCHES  OF  KOREA 

In  this  church,  I preached  my  first  sermon 
to  the  Korean  people.  It  was  through  an  in- 
terpreter. I was  feeling  a little  homesick 


3 


30 


Glimpses  of  Korea 


when  we  landed  at  Fusan;  but  when  I met 
here  with  the  little  company  of  believers  that 
first  Wednesday  night,  I felt  much  better,  for 
I realized  that  Jesus  was  fulfilling  His  promise 
that  He  had  given,  where  He  said:  “Verily  I 
say  unto  you,  There  is  no  man  that  hath  left 
house,  or  parents,  or  brethren,  or  wife,  or 
children,  for  the  kingdom  of  God’s  sake,  who 
shall  not  receive  manifold  more  in  this  present 
time.”  I saw  in  that  little  company,  fathers 
and  mothers,  brothers  and  sisters,  and  sons 
and  daughters ; and  above  and  beyond  all 
that,  I knew  that  Jesus  was  there,  too,  for  the 
very  faces  of  the  people  showed  it. 

The  church,  you  see,  is  built  the  shape  of 
the  letter  L,  and  the  pulpit  is  in  the  corner, 
with  two  separate  rooms,  as  it  were,  leading 
away  from  it,  for  the  congregation.  You 
never  heard  of  anything  like  that  in  America, 
did  you? 

One  side  is  for  the  women,  and  the  other 
side  is  for  the  men.  All  our  churches  in 
Korea  are  arranged  like  this,  or  else  there  is 
a curtain  hung  between.  Women  and  men, 
and  boys  and  girls,  don’t  mingle  together  here 
as  they  do  in  other  lands ; so  this  is  their  own 
arrangement.  It  seems  very  strange  to  us  at 
first;  but  it  is  one  of  the  customs  of  the  land, 
and  must  be  respected. 

You  notice  that  there  are  no  seats  in  the 
church;  but  the  people  don’t  use  seats  — that 


Gods  of  the  Spring  and  Mountain  31 

is,  such  seats  as  we  are  accustomed  to.  There 
are  straw  mats  on  the  floor;  and  on  these  the 
people  sit  while  attending  services,  their  legs 
doubled  up  under  them. 

They  sit  the  same  way  at  home,  too.  We 
couldn’t  get  used  to  it  at  all.  Even  an  hour 
sitting  in  this  way  nearly  cramps  all  the  feel- 
ing out  of  our  legs,  except  the  soreness. 

Sitting  on  the  floor  never  troubles  the 
Koreans  a bit ; for  they  practice  it  from  baby- 
hood. Old  men  and  women  with  gray  hair 
spend  hours  at  a time  sitting  this  way  in  com- 
fort and  contentment.  There  are  no  chairs 
in  the  native  houses  any  more  than  at  church. 
There  are  no  bedsteads,  either.  The  people 
not  only  sit  on  the  floor,  but  they  sleep  on  it 
as  well,  and  all  without  a mattress ! 

About  the  only  furniture  in  a Korean  home 
is  a chest  or  two  where  they  keep  their  clothes 
and  bedding.  Their  beds  are  spread  on  the 
floor  at  night,  and  folded  up  and  put  away  in 
the  daytime. 

So  they  come  to  church  and  sit  on  the 
floor  while  the  service  lasts,  with  their  song- 
books  and  Bibles  opened  up  before  them,  lying 
on  the  floor,  too.  They  all  take  part  in  the 
singing;  for  they  like  to  sing,  even  if  they  do 
miss  the  tune  quite  as  often  as  they  hit  it. 
Anyway,  the  words  mean  more  to  them  than 
the  music,  I suppose. 


32 


Glimpses  of  Korea 


When  we  have  prayer  and  testimony  meet- 
ing, all  take  part.  It  is  very  seldom  indeed 
that  one  passes  an  opportunity  by  of  witness- 
ing for  Jesus.  They  are  not  blessed  with 
many  reference  books,  as  Americans  are;  but 
they  have  their  Bibles,  and  they  know  them, 
too,  and  you  can’t  fool  them  about  its  teach- 
ings. Sometimes  I think  they  are  quicker 
than  the  ordinary  American  to  detect  error. 

There’s  a fine  cool  spring  up  there  on  the 
hillside,  about  a mile  and  a half  away.  It 
never  goes  dry.  During  the  seasons  of  heavy 
rains,  the  people  living  here  at  the  station 
get  their  drinking  water  at  the  spring,  for 
the  wells  often  become  muddy  and  impure 
from  the  surface  water  running  in. 

There  is  something  up  there  at  the  spring 
that  I want  to  show  you,  so  let’s  walk  up.  If 
you  look  up  on  the  side  of  the  mountain  nearly 
to  the  top,  just  where  I am  pointing,  you  will 
see  what  looks  like  a hole  in  the  cliff,  but  it 
is  really  a large  cave.  Even  though  the  path 
is  steep  and  rocky,  we’ll  walk  up,  for  there 
are  things  you’ll  want  to  see  all  the  way  along. 
There  is  something  especially  interesting  at 
the  cave. 

THE  DECORATED  BUSH 

Almost  to  the  spring!  You  see  that  pe- 
culiar bush  up  there  about  a hundred  yards 
farther  that  seems  to  be  covered  with  flowers 
of  all  colors  ? The  spring  is  under  that  bush. 


Gods  of  the  Spring  and  Mountain  33 

Well,  we  find  that  what  seemed  to  be  colored 
flowers  at  a little  distance  are,  in  fact,  nothing 
but  small  pieces  of  different  colored  cloth  tied 
to  the  branches  of  the  bush.  You  wouldn’t 
guess  their  meaning  in  a hundred  years.  Now 
look  into  the  water  here,  where  it  comes  out 
from  the  rock  in  the  bottom  of  this  little  pool, 
and  you’ll  see  there  much  cooked  rice.  You 
remember  the  dream  of  Pharaoh  of  the  time 
of  Joseph,  away  back  in  Bible  times?  Just 
as  the  kine  and  the  corn  meant  one  and  the 
same  thing,  so  this  bush  with  the  rags  on  it 
and  the  rice  in  the  spring  mean  one  and  the 
same  thing. 

This  is  the  secret  of  it  all:  The  people  be- 
lieve this  to  be  a spirit  spring.  They  believe 
that  it  is  the  dwelling  place  of  some  spirit; 
and  so,  to  appease  this  spirit  and  coax  it  to 
bless  them,  they  bring  rice  here  for  it  to  eat. 
Those  pieces  of  cloth  on  the  bush  represent 
the  prayers  to  the  spirit  for  blessing.  Each 
piece  of  colored  cloth  represents  a prayer. 

They  don’t  think  how  foolish  it  is  to  try  to 
feed  a spirit,  and  how  strange  it  is  to  tie 
pieces  of  cloth  to  a bush  to  please  a spirit  and 
to  coax  it  to  bless  them.  The  spirits,  to  them, 
are  powers  that  they  are  afraid  of;  so  they 
try  to  please  them  and  win  their  favor.  How 
would  you  like  to  believe  in  a religion  like 
that?  There  are  spirit  springs,  and  spirit 
trees,  and  spirit  mountains,  all  over  Korea; 


34 


Glimpses  of  Korea 


and  the  people  reverence  them,  not  knowing 
how  foolish  it  all  is,  for  they  have  never 
heard  of  the  true  God,  or,  if  they  have  heard, 
they  do  not  believe.  They  don’t  know  any- 
thing about  the  loving  Jesus  wTho  came  into 
the  world  and  died  for  them. 

This,  children,  is  the  reason  for  foreign 
missions.  And  the  more  you  see  of  Korea, 
the  more  you  will  be  made  to  realize  how  very, 
very  much  they  are  needed.  There  are  not 
merely  a few  thousand  people  believing  in 
spirits  and  held  by  superstition  and  fear,  but 
millions  are  bowing  down  to  idols,  or  demons, 
or  some  sort  of  false  gods. 

ON  TO  THE  CAVE 

But  let’s  go  on  up  to  the  cave.  We  will 
have  to  skirt  along  the  base  of  the  mountain 
for  a way,  till  we  come  to  the  little  rocky 
canon  that  leads  up  the  mountain  side. 

Notice  how  thick  the  wild  flowers  are  up 
here.  They  are  of  all  kinds  and  all  colors.  One 
Sabbath  afternoon  in  the  fall  of  the  year, 
while  we  were  out  walking,  some  of  us  gath- 
ered forty  different  kinds  of  flowers  on  these 
hills.  Many  of  them  were  the  same  sweet 
flowers  that  we  see  in  America.  The  warm 
rains  keep  the  hillsides  of  Korea  very  beauti- 
ful indeed. 

Under  the  flowers,  and  all  over  the  hillsides, 
are  mounds  of  earth,  some  small,  some  large. 


Gods  of  the  Spring  and  Mountain  35 

There  are  hundreds  of  them.  Wherever  you 
look,  you  can  see  them.  What  are  they  ? They 
are  graves.  Korea  is  one  great  burial  ground. 
You  never  get  outside  of  the  cemetery  here. 
They  are  within  a hundred  feet  of  most  of  our 
houses  ; they  are  on  the  low  hills,  and  on  the 
highest  mountains;  and  thousands  more  are 
being  added  every  year. 

The  cave  is  about  a hundred  yards  farther 
on;  but  before  we  go  up  to  it,  let’s  take  a 
good  look  at  the  valley  from  here.  Look  at  the 
little  villages  clustered  along  its  sides.  You 
can  count  over  thirty  of  them  from  here,  each 
with  its  hundred  or  so  mud-walled,  thatch- 
roofed  houses.  The  people  like  to  live  to- 
gether in  Korea.  This  is  because,  back  in  the 
days  when  the  country  was  filled  with  robber 
bands  and  beasts  of  prey,  the  people  had  to 
band  together  for  mutual  protection.  And 
now  the  habit  still  clings.  It  isn’t  a bad 
scheme  for  this  country,  where  the  population 
is  so  dense ; because,  all  the  villages  being  built 
along  the  sides  of  the  hills,  on  land  that  can 
not  be  cultivated,  none  of  the  much  needed 
good  soil  is  used  to  put  buildings  on. 

TO  THE  MOUNTAIN  GOD 

Here’s  the  cave.  It  is  quite  large  inside, 
you  see,  and  may  have  been  used  for  a house 
by  several  families  back  in  the  days  when 


36 


Glimpses  of  Korea 


wild  tribes  roamed  about.  Here  in  the  center 
is  a little  altar  with  ashes  in  front  of  it.  On 
the  altar,  there  is  an  inscription  in  Chinese 
characters,  saying  that  it  is  dedicated  to  the 
god  of  the  mountain. 

How  would  you  like  to  have  a church  lo- 
cated up  here  and  have  to  make  the  climb  to 
get  to  meeting?  I am  afraid  you  would  soon 
grow  weary  of  going  to  church.  But  many 
old  men  and  women  who  are  tottering  into  the 
grave,  make  this  long  trip  up  here  just  to 
burn  incense  to  the  mountain  spirit.  People 
are  doing  just  such  things  all  over  Korea 
to-day.  When  such  people  become  converted 
to  the  true  God,  they  don’t  mind  a little  hard- 
ship. 

I brought  you  up  this  long  path  especially 
to  see  this  little  altar,  that  you  may  better 
understand  the  condition  and  the  need  of  the 
people  of  this  faraway  land. 

It  is  getting  late,  so  we  must  hasten  back  to 
the  mission  home.  After  supper,  we  can  ex- 
pect some  of  the  native  people  to  come  in  to 
see  us.  There  is  no  meeting  to-night,  but  they 
will  want  to  visit  with  you.  They  are  great 
folks  to  visit. 

You  may  find  it  a little  hard  to  visit  through 
an  interpreter;  but  that  is  the  way  I had  to 
talk  at  first,  and  that  is  the  way  that  the  visit- 
ing ministers  from  America  and  Australia 


Gods  of  the  Spring  and  Mountain  37 

and  other  places  , have  to  talk.  The  inter- 
preter is  the  link. 

After  your  visit,  you  will  want  a good 
night’s  rest;  for  to-morrow  is  market  day, 
and  you  are  to  see  how  commerce  is  carried 
on  in  the  East.  Then  to-morrow  night  we  go 
on  the  train  again. 


Market  Day  in  Korea 

On  the  Fifth  Day — Ki niche ” — Selling  Rocks  — Wooden 
Combs  — Taking  Our  Shoes  Off  — Chopsticks  — Lepers 
— Taking  the  Train 

GoOD  morning,  Teresa,  Elnora,  Freda, 
Kate,  Jimmie,  and  Dwane ! You  need  not  tell 
me  you  have  had  a good  night,  for  it  shines 
out  through  your  very  faces.  How  good  it  feels 
to  get  in  a real  bed,  after  sleeping,  or  trying  to 
sleep,  for  a whole  month  on  steamers  and  rail- 
way trains! 

Just  come  out  here  on  the  porch  and  look 
out  across  the  Talley  there.  Do  you  see  those 
white-robed  figures,  some  leading  bullocks, 
some  with  packs  on  their  backs,  all  coming 
into  the  village  from  every  bypath  in  the 
country?  Well’  this  is  market  day,  and  these 
people  are  all  going  to  the  market.  Under 
the  old  Korean  government,  stores  and  shops 
were  ahnost  unknown ; so  every  fifth  day,  the 
people  held  a market  in  the  largest  village  of 
a neighborhood,  and  that  brought  some  score 
of  villages  together  for  trade  and  barter. 

Nowadays  the  Japanese  are  opening  up 
small  stores  and  shops  all  over  the  land,  and 
even  many  of  the  Koreans  are  doing  the 
same;  yet  many  hold  their  fifth-day  markets 
even  as  they  used  to  do.  The  man  who  has 
anything  to  sell  takes  it  to  the  market,  while 

(38) 


Market  Day  in  Korea  39 

the  people  who  must  buy  make  this  their  day 
for  shopping.  Then,  too,  the  country  people 
make  this  a day  of  fun  and  good  time.  There 
are  others,  though,  who  spend  the  day  drink- 
ing and  doing  many  sinful  things. 

The  market  days  are  big  days  to  the  Ko- 
reans one  and  all.  When  Jesus  referred  to 


The  market  days  are  big  days  to  the  Koreans  one  and  all. 


the  markets  and  the  market  places,  I suppose 
He  had  some  such  picture  as  this  in  mind ; for 
in  that  time,  they  had  similar  ones  in  Judea. 

After  breakfast  is  over,  we  will  walk  over 
to  the  market  place,  and  you  will  have  the 
opportunity  of  seeing  thousands  of  Koreans, 
and  of  getting  better  acquainted  with  their 
habits  of  life.  We  like  to  go  on  market  days, 
because  not  only  can  we  buy  things,  but  it  is 


40 


Glimpses  of  Korea 


also  an  excellent  time  to  give  away  tracts  that 
some  will  read. 

All  ready  now  to  start?  We  have  our 
tracts,  and,  Teresa,  I see  you  have  your 
camera,  while  I have  a basket.  We  must 
always  take  a basket  to  carry  things  home  in, 
for  the  market  men  don’t  furnish  even  a paper 
bag.  We  must  follow  the  path  by  which  we 
came,  down  to  the  railroad  station,  cross  the 
track,  and  go  through  the  Japanese  section  of 
the  town.  Then  after  crossing  the  bridge,  we 
have  about  a quarter  of  a mile  to  go  to  reach 
the  market.  You  can  tell  where  the  market 
is,  by  the  white-dressed  people  surging  about. 

STRANGE  FOODS  AT  THE  MARKET 

Here  we  are  at  the  first  stall  of  the  market, 
but  I suppose  you  are  all  looking  for  the  stall. 
You  see  that  it  is  a mat  thrown  down  in  the 
dust  by  the  roadside,  with  the  material  to  be 
sold  stacked  upon  it,  while  the  man  in  charge 
is  sitting  cross-legged  by  the  side  of  the  mat. 

This  is  where  turnips  are  sold;  or  are  they 
radishes?  I have  never  found  anyone  who 
could  tell  which.  At  least,  they  are  the  vege- 
tables of  which  the  Koreans  make  their 
pickles.  Sometimes  Chinese  cabbage  is  added. 
The  Koreans  call  these  pickles  kimche,  and 
they  make  them  by  simply  washing  the  vege- 
tables and  putting  them  in  strong  salt  water 
to  which  is  added  an  abundance  of  red  peppers. 


Market  Day  in  Korea  41 

This  kimche  is  eaten  at  every  meal,  along  with 
their  rice.  No  Korean  eats  without  his 
kimche . 

This  is  the  fish  market.  The  fish  are  spread 
out  like  the  turnips,  on  the  mats.  There  are 
little  fish  and  big  fish,  dried  fish  and  fresh 
fish;  and  from  the  way  you  are  holding  your 
noses,  you  would  add,  i 4 rotten  fish.”  Aside 
from  the  fish  that  you  don’t  like,  there  are  the 
flies  and  the  dirt,  until  you  wonder  how  the 
people  live,  and  wonder  they  don’t  all  die. 
And  it  is  a case  for  wonder,  too.  A little  of 
this  fish  market  goes  a long  way,  so  we  will 
move  on. 

SELLING  FLINT  STONES  AND  WOODEN  COMBS 

This  part  is  a little  more  enticing,  for  it  is 
the  fruit  market.  They  have  fine  red  apples, 
you  see,  and  nice  juicy  Japanese  pears.  Be- 
fore we  leave,  we  must  come  back  here  and 
buy  some  to  take  on  our  trip.  Here  is  a man 
that  has  matches  to  sell ; and  you  will  observe 
that  he  has  a whole  pile  of  broken  rocks  for 
sale,  too.  Do  you  know  what  they  are  for? 

That  is  flint,  and  is  what  our  great-grand- 
fathers used  to  kindle  fires  with;  and  thou- 
sands of  people  in  Korea  to-day  start  their 
fires  by  striking  sparks  from  flint.  Almost 
every  house  keeps  a flint  rock  on  hand,  so 
that  if  their  supply  of  matches  gives  out  or 
gets  wet,  they  will  still  be  able  to  start  a fire. 


42 


Glimpses  of  Korea 


Here  is  a man  selling  Korean  combs.  They 
are  made  of  wood,  yet  some  of  them  are  quite 
well  made,  with  fine  teeth,  and  are  of  good 
appearance. 

There’s  a man  selling  hats,  and  now  you 
can  get  a closer  and  better  view  of  the  little 
dinky  things  that  have  caused  you  so  much 
amusement.  The  hats  are  woven  nearly  as 
loosely  as  our  window  screens  at  home,  but 
there  is  a little  band  of  bamboo  around  the 
edge  of  the  brim  to  hold  it  in  shape.  Some 
of  these  hats  cost  several  dollars. 

Over  there  is  a cloth  merchant.  While  he 
has  foreign  cloth  a plenty,  much  of  his  cloth 
is  homespun  — meaning  that  it  is  made  from 
the  cotton  grown  here  by  the  country  people 
and  woven  on  little  hand  looms. 

As  we  continue  up  the  street,  let  us  each 
take  tracts  and  give  them  out  to  everybody 
who  will  receive  them.  Many  will  refuse, 
because  there  are  millions  of  people  in  Korea 
who  can  not  read  even  a word. 

We  have  made  our  way  the  full  length  of 
the  market.  You  have  seen  its  wares  and  the 
crowds,  the  filth  and  the  flies,  and  have  smelled 
things  that  you  didn’t  know  existed;  so  doubt- 
less you  have  had  enough  market  for  one  day. 
Besides,  it  is  getting  late,  and  by  the  time  we 
press  back  through  the  crowd  and  purchase 
our  fruit,  it  will  be  high  time  to  go  for  dinner. 
Our  train  leaves  at  one  o’clock,  you  know. 


Market  Day  in  Korea 


43 


I promised  you  . that  we  would  visit  some 
Korean  houses  to-day  before  starting  north- 
ward; but  we  took  more  time  at  the  market 
than  I expected,  so  we  shall  only  have  the 
chance  to  make  a short  visit  at  one  house. 
One  of  our  mission  workers  lives  near  the 
path  that  we  take  in  going  back,  and  we  will 
stop  at  his  home  a few  minutes. 

AT  CHAY’S  HOUSE 

This  is  Chay’s  house.  He  is  one  of  our 
native  ministers,  and  the  head  of  the  Sabbath- 
school  work  in  Southern  Korea.  He  is  more 
fortunate  than  many  of  the  poor  Koreans,  for 
he  has  three  rooms.  Before  we  step  inside  the 
house,  we  must  take  off  our  shoes ; for  it  would 
be  very  bad  form  indeed,  from  a Korean  view- 
point, to  go  in  with  them  on.  And  besides, 
the  rock-earth  floor  is  covered  with  a heavy 
oiled  paper,  and  our  shoes  would  break  it 
badly. 

Now  we  shall  have  to  sit  down  on  the  floor 
and  draw  our  legs  up  under  us  the  best  we  can. 
We  shall  not  be  very  comfortable;  but  we  can 
stand  it  for  a few  minutes,  which  will  be  as 
long  as  we  can  stay. 

As  you  look  around  the  room,  you  see  that 
they  do  not  have  very  much  furniture.  There 
are  the  chests  that  have  their  clothes  in  them, 
and  you  will  notice  that  their  bedding  is  folded 
up  and  laid  on  top  of  the  chests.  Those 
square  blocks  are  the  pillows.  Not  very  invit- 


44 


Glimpses  of  Korea 


ing,  are  they?  Nor  is  the  bed;  for  it  is  this 
hard  floor,  with  a single  quilt  spread  over  it. 

The  table  over  there  with  legs  about  a foot 
long  is  Chay’s  writing  desk,  and  you  will  ob- 
serve that  he  has  a few  books  on  top.  No 
chance  to  use  a chair  while  writing  there,  is 
there  ? 

LITTLE  TABLES  AND  CHOPSTICKS 

The  mud  walls  and  ceilings  of  the  room  are 
papered  over  with  old  newspapers,  which  give 
it  a clean  appearance.  Most  of  the  houses  are 
destitute  of  anything  on  the  walls  save  the 
clay  with  which  they  are  plastered.  Look  out 
and  don’t  lean  back  against  the  wall,  or  you  will 
get  your  clothes  all  soiled.  This  is  very  much 
like  a playhouse,  isn’t  it? 

Now  let  us  go  outside  and  see  the  kitchen. 
There  is  seldom  a door  leading  from  the  living 
room  to  the  kitchen,  so  we  shall  have  to  go 
outside  in  order  to  get  into  the  other  room. 

There  is  the  fire  box  with  the  large  kettle 
over  it  that  I told  you  of  yesterday.  The  rice 
for  dinner  is  already  on  cooking.  Over  there 
are  two  small  tables,  with  legs  about  the  same 
length  as  those  that  the  writing  table  has. 
When  dinner  is  ready,  it  is  placed  on  one  of 
these  little  tables  and  carried  into  the  living 
room,  where  the  diners  sit  down  before  it  on 
the  floor  and  eat  with  chopsticks,  the  same 
as  do  the  Chinese. 


Market  Day  in  Korea  45 

There  is  not  much  here  in  the  kitchen  in  the 
way  of  furniture  — just  a few  earthen  crocks 
and  a few  bowls  of  brass  and  chinaware. 
When  the  missionaries  out  in  the  field  visit 
the  churches,  they  have  to  live  in  houses  like 
this  for  weeks  at  a time.  Generally  speaking, 
the  houses  are  not  nearly  as  clean  as  this  one 
is.  When  we  have  more  time,  I will  tell  you 
of  a long  trip  that  I took  one  time  with  Mr. 
Smith  when  we  visited  the  island  of  Quelpart, 
down  in  the  Yellow  Sea,  about  a hundred 
miles  to  the  south  of  Korea. 

Now  we  must  hasten  back  to  the  mission 
and  take  dinner,  so  that  we  shall  be  ready  to 
catch  that  northbound  express. 

Missionary  Chay  and  his  wife  and  mother 
are  saying,  “Pyngane  ka  sipseo.”  That 
sounds  a little  like  what  they  said  when  they 
welcomed  us  at  the  station,  doesn’t  it?  It 
really  means,  “Go  peacefully  on  your  jour- 
ney.” Many  of  the  expressions  that  the  Ko- 
reans use  remind  folks  very  much  of  old 
Bible  times,  when  J esus  was  here  upon  earth. 
I can  fancy  that  He  and  His  disciples  would 
have  used  about  the  same  sweet  expression  in 
bidding  a companion  good-by. 

THE  LEPERS  VISIT  THE  HOUSE 

Do  you  hear  those  mournful  cries  out  in 
front  of  the  house?  There  are  some  lepers 
before  the  door;  and  even  though  we  are  eat- 


4 


46 


Glimpses  of  Korea 


ing  dinner,  I know  you  will  want  to  go  out 
and  take  just  one  look  at  them. 

Perhaps  we  had  better  give  them  a little 
money  to  brighten  them  up.  Aside  from  a 
leper  station  that  the  foreign  missionaries  are 
maintaining,  which  is  entirely  too  small  to 
take  in  all  the  lepers  in  Korea,  there  is  no 
provision  made  for  them.  There  are  hundreds 
of  these  poor  diseased  people  who  can  do 
nothing  but  beg  from  door  to  door  and  sleep 
in  caves.  So  they  are  dirty  and  ragged  and 
repulsive. 

I suppose  the  lepers  of  Christ’s  day  were 
similar  to  these  poor  fellows.  It  is  no  wonder 
that  the  compassionate  heart  of  the  Saviour 
was  drawn  out  to  them  in  sympathy  as  He 
ministered  to  them  the  healing  balm  of  heaven. 

Probably  your  dinner  doesn’t  taste  as  good 
to  you  since  you  looked  at  those  poor  lepers ; 
but  perhaps  this  sight  has  helped  you  to  grasp 
better  the  condition  of  the  country,  and  will 
make  you  more  sympathetic  for  the  suffer- 
ing, and  a little  more  thankful  to  God  that 
you  are  spared  such  things.  The  East  is  a 
land  of  disease,  poverty,  wretchedness,  suffer- 
ing, and  death. 

The  first  year  that  we  were  in  Korea  was 
what  is  know  as  a cholera  year.  Within 
twenty  miles  of  this  very  house,  people  were 
dying  by  the  hundreds.  The  government  tried 
to  help  the  poor  people,  but  they  were  mostly 


Market  Day  in  Korea  47 

too  ignorant  to  be  helped.  The  officials  tried 
to  quarantine  the  diseased  districts  by  throw- 
ing ropes  across  the  streets  and  placing  sol- 
diers on  guard,  but  the  people  would  escape 
and  spread  the  germs  of  death  all  about.  The 
disease  spread  over  large  sections  of  the  coun- 
try, and  continued  until  stopped  by  the  cold 
of  winter. 

Here  we  are  at  the  railroad  station,  ready 
to  start.  The  native  believers  are  here  to  bid 
us  Godspeed.  They  are  so  filled  with  praise 
and  thanksgiving  at  their  acquaintance  with 
Jesus  that  it  just  naturally  overflows.  What  a 
contrast  there  is  between  these  dear  souls  and 
the  heathen  here  who  swarm  around  them! 
They  are  neater  and  cleaner,  and  have  on 
their  faces  an  expression  of  joy  not  seen  on 
the.  faces  of  the  others. 

Here  comes  the  train.  Let  us  shake  hands 
with  all  and  bid  them  good-by,  and  thank 
Miss  Scott  for  our  pleasant  stay  at  the  Keizan 
Mission  Station. 


The  Trip  to  Quelpart  and  Back 

Sleeping  on  the  Floor  — Across  the  Yellow  Sea  — At 
Quelpart — Fighting  Fleas  — Polliwogs  in  the  Drinking 

Water — Climbing  the  Mountain  — The  Big  Hole 

Here  we  are  on  the  train  speeding  north- 
ward. We  shall  arrive  at  Seoul  at  ten-forty 
to-night.  During  this  long  ride,  you  will  find 
the  country  just  about  what  you  saw  on  your 
ride  from  Fusan  to  Keizan,  so  I am.  going  to 
tell  you  about  a trip  I took  not  long  after  I 
came  to  Korea. 

It  was  during  our  second  summer  in  Korea, 
while  we  were  still  at  Keizan  studying  the 
language,  and  while  Missionary  W.  R.  Smith 
was  superintending  the  work  in  the  south, 
that  he  had  to  make  a long  trip  through  that 
part  to  do  some  baptizing  and  to  look  after 
the  work.  It  was  necessary  to  go  as  far  as  the 
island  of  Quelpart. 

So  on  a Friday  in  June,  when  the  barley 
was  being  harvested  and  the  rice  transplanted, 
we  left  Keizan  on  this  same  train  that  we  are 
on  now,  going  as  far  north  as  Taiden,  where 
there  is  a branch  line  running  almost  due 
south  to  the  port  of  Mokpo,  a little  over  a 
hundred  miles  distant,  on  the  Yellow  Sea. 
After  about  an  hour’s  ride  on  this  branch  line, 
we  got  off  at  a station  by  the  name  of  Tokee. 

(48) 


The  Trip  to  Quelpart  and  Back  49 

We  have  a church  about  five  miles  from  there, 
out  in  the  country,  where  we  were  planning 
to  spend  the  Sabbath.  The  elder  of  the  church 
was  at  the  station,  waiting  to  act  as  our  guide 
out  to  the  church.  We  secured  two  men  to 
carry  our  beds,  then  we  started  out  ahead,  and 
reached  the  church  after  dark. 

Brother  Smith  preached  to  the  little  com- 
pany that  night ; and  afterwards  the  men  who 
were  carrying  our  freight  came  in  empty 
handed,  telling  us  that  it  was  too  hard  to 
travel  with  the  loads  after  dark,  so  they  had 
left  them.  This  wasn’t  very  pleasing  for  us; 
but  we  managed  to  get  a quilt  from  the  church 
elder,  and  tried  to  sleep  on  the  floor  of  the 
church. 

ON  THE  LITTLE  STEAMER 

The  following  morning,  there  was  a nice 
little  company  gathered  in  for  Sabbath-school 
and  church  services.  One  man  who  was  past 
seventy  had  walked  over. twenty  miles  to  be 
at  the  meetings.  We  had  several  services 
there  that  day;  and  early  the  next  morning, 
we  went  back  to  the  station,  where  we  caught 
an  early  train  for  the  south.  That  afternoon 
at  about  two  o’clock,  we  reached  Shoteriri, 
where  we  had  a native  minister  located,  and 
a little  company  of  believers.  Here  we  stayed 
till  the  following  evening,  and  had  many  in- 
teresting experiences ; then  on  toward  the 
island  of  Quelpar; 


50 


Glimpses  of  Korea 


When  we  finally  arrived  at  Mokpo,  we 
learned  that  a little  three-hundred-ton  Jap- 
anese steamer  was  planning  on  weighing  an- 
chor about  noon  the  following  day  to  go  to  Quel- 
part.  It  was  then  about  eleven  at  night,  so 
we  went  to  a Japanese  hotel  and  stayed  the 
rest  of  the  night.  At  about  one  o’clock  the 
following  day,  our  little  steamer  got  under 
way.  We  found  that  there  was  only  one 
first-class  cabin.  This  had  four  berths;  we 
had  two,  and  there  were  two  Japanese  occupy- 
ing the  other  two.  The  great  Yellow  Sea  was 
quite  rough,  and  the  little  steamer  pitched 
around  in  great  style. 

REACH  THE  ISLAND 

Some  time  that  night,  we  reached  an  island 
port,  where  the  steamer  tied  up  until  morn- 
ing. But  early  the  next  day,  we  were  on  our 
way  again  for  the  south.  I think  that  it  was 
at  about  eleven  o’clock  that  forenoon  that  we 
had  our  first  glimpse  of  the  island  of  Quel- 
part;  and  I shall  never  forget  the  thrill  of 
delight  that  swept  over  me  when,  as  I stood  on 
the  prow  of  that  little  steamer,  this  myste- 
rious island  arose  like  a phantom  from  the 
shifting  mists  of  the  Yellow  Sea.  It  seemed 
like  a little  world  of  its  own  — an  empire 
hidden  away  in  unending  reaches  of  water, 
where  peace  and  plenty  cast  their  joys  with- 
out the  price  of  greed  and  war  and  human 
life. 


The  Trip  to  Quelpart  and  Back  51 

Quelpart  is  an  island  of  volcanic  origin,  and 
the  central  figure  of  the  island  to-day  is  a 
mighty  extinct  volcano  rising  six  thousand 
five  hundred  feet  above  the  sea.  The  top  of 
this  lone  sentinel  is  usually  lost  in  the  clouds. 

Not  only  was  this  volcano  responsible  for 
the  existence  of  the  island,  but  the  high  moun- 
tain breaks  the  clouds  that  ever  roll  up  from 
the  south,  causing  them  to  empty  their  water 
on  the  island,  and  hence  there  is  plenty  of 
rain.  This  provides  for  the  needs  of  vegeta- 
tion, while  the  timber  of  its  slopes  gives  fire- 
wood and  building  material  to  the  people. 

About  noon,  we  anchored  off  Iltori,  the 
ancient  capital  of  the  island ; and  the  sampans, 
or  little  boats,  came  out  and  carried  us  in  to 
shore.  There  we  found  two  friends  waiting 
to  welcome  us  to  their  island  field.  We  went 
directly  up  to  the  house  that  was  being  used 
for  meeting,  and  found  one  of  our  friends 
living  in  the  same  compound. 

We  took  dinner  there,  and  afterwards 
walked  out  along  the  old  city  wall,  only  a 
portion  of  which  is  still  standing.  We  were 
only  opening  up  work  in  this  place,  and  as 
yet  had  claimed  no  converts.  However,  there 
were  several  interested  men,  the  owners  of 
small  shops,  who  came  around  that  afternoon 
to  see  us. 

That  night  was  one  of  the  worst  I ever 
spent;  and  of  course  you  will  want  to  know 


52 


Glimpses  of  Korea 


how  it  happened.  Yon  see,  we  were  not  very 
fond  of  fleas  or  mosquitoes,  and  we  guessed 
that  there  would  be  plenty  here  to  contend 
with.  So  we  planned  on  going  to  a Japanese 
hotel ; for  they  are  generally  free  from  fleas, 
and  furnish  mosquito  nets  for  the  beds.  But 
the  folks  assured  us  that  we  would  not  be 
troubled  by  any  of  these  pests;  so  we  at- 
tempted to  sleep  on  the  floor  of  the  church. 
Well,  we  lay  there  on  the  floor  and  fought 
fleas  and  mosquitoes  all  night  long.  We  were 
glad  to  get  up  some  time  before  daylight  and 
prepare  for  our  trip.  We  had  planned  to  go 
to  a village  some  twenty  miles  down  the  coast 
that  day,  where  there  were  a few  interested 
people;  and  as  we  could  not  afford  to  take 
more  than  one  carrier  along  with  us,  we  had 
to  decide  just  what  we  could  take  along  in  the 
way  of  food  and  bedding  and  clothes,  and  what 
had  to  be  left  behind.  When  we  got  our  food 
and  clothes  packed,  we  had  room  for  nothing 
in  the  bedding  line  but  one  sheet. 

ALONG  THE  STRANGE  WALL 

We  started  on  our  walk  a little  after  day- 
light, taking  the  carrier  and  the  two  workers 
with  us.  We  were  surprised,  when  we  got  out- 
side the  city,  to  find  that  we  were  in  a lane 
inclosed  by  a cobblestone  wall  on  either  side. 
We  continued  in  this  lane  all  the  way.  We 
found  later  that  one  can  walk  all  over  the 


The  Trip  to  Quelpart  and  Back  53 

island  without  getting  outside  of  these  cobble- 
stone walls. 

There  is  a cobblestone  wall  around  practi- 
cally every  farm  plot  on  the  island ; and  most 
of  the  plots  are  quite  small,  the  largest  ones 
not  containing  more  than  two  or  three  acres 
of  land.  The  walls  were  built,  apparently, 
merely  to  get  rid  of  the  bowlders  that  had 
been  on  the  ground;  and  there  are  places 
where  even  the  walls  do  not  use  them  all,  and 
the  people  have  to  build  big  piles  besides. 

We  stopped  at  a wayside  inn,  and  our  two 
workers  called  in  the  few  interested  ones, 
and  we  talked  with  them  on  the  Bible  that 
afternoon.  That  evening,  Brother  Smith 
spoke  to  a little  band  of  people  who  gathered 
in  a room  that  was  being  used  as  a school- 
room by  the  villagers.  We  slept  on  the  floor 
that  night,  with  nothing  but  our  sheet  between 
us  and  the  stones;  but  as  there  were  no  mos- 
quitoes and  only  a few  fleas,  we  slept  very 
well. 

The  next  day,  we  walked  about  thirty  miles 
across  the  island  to  a town  called  Sarcade, 
where  we  have  a church  building  and  a little 
company  of  believers.  But  on  the  walk,  we 
found  no  water;  and  as  we  did  not  have  any 
with  us,  we  were  very,  very  thirsty,  for  the 
day  was  quite  warm.  We  finally  came  to  a 
rain-water  pond  that  was  full  of  polliwogs, 
wigglers,  and  other  strange  things;  but  we 


54 


Glimpses  of  Korea 


were  so  very  thirsty  that  we  didn’t  let  that 
bother  us,  and  we  took  a big  drink. 

It  was  about  three  o’clock  on  a Friday 
afternoon  that  we  arrived  at  our  church  vil- 
lage, very  tired,  and  more  thirsty  still ; and  to 
our  great  disappointment,  the  only  water  of 
the  village  was  a rain-pond,  on  the  edges  of 
which  the  women  of  the  village  were  doing 
their  washing,  while  the  cows  of  the  place 
were  wading  around  in  it.  Matters  began  to 
look  as  if  we  should  have  to  take  another 
drink  of  such  strange  drinking  water.  We 
asked  questions,  though,  and  were  told  that 
there  was  a spring  about  three  miles  farther 
on;  so,  tired  as  we  were,  we  decided  to  press 
on  for  the  water. 

We  found  the  spring  there;  and  we  were 
just  in  time,  too,  because  the  spring  was  down 
on  the  beach,  and  the  tide  was  coming  in.  It 
had  already  reached  the  spring,  and  a few 
minutes  later  would  have  buried  it  in  the 
ocean  until  the  tide  had  gone  out.  I don’t 
need  to  say  that  we  drank  and  drank,  and 
filled  a gallon  jug  with  water  to  take  back 
to  the  church  for  the  Sabbath.  It  was  here 
at  this  port,  while  waiting  for  a steamer  sev- 
eral days,  that  Brother  Wangerin  caught  the 
cold  that  later  resulted  in  his  death. 

THE  NEXT  DAY  IT  RAINED 

We  were  so  tired  when  we  got  back  to  the 
church  that  we  went  right  to  bed.  The  na- 


The  Trip  to  Quelpart  and  Back  55 

tive  workers  conducted  the  services  that  night, 
with  the  people  who  came  in  for  their  weekly 
missionary  meeting.  We  slept  on  the  floor, 
but  were  too  tired  to  notice  how  hard  it  was; 
or  perhaps  we  were  getting  used  to  hard 
beds,  for  we  put  in  a quite  peaceful  night. 

The  Sabbath  was  a beautiful  day,  and  after 
the  Sabbath-school  and  the  morning  church 
service,  we  all  went  down  to  the  beach,  which 
was  about  a mile  away,  where  three  new 
believers  were  baptized. 

That  afternoon,  the  church  people,  for  the 
first  time  in  their  experience,  had  the  privi- 
lege of  taking  part  in  the  ordinances  of  the 
Lord’s  house.  In  the  evening,  Brother  Smith 
performed  the  ceremony  that  married  two  of 
the  young  people  of  the  church.  The  young 
man  has  since  distinguished  himself  at  can- 
vassing, and  is  at  present  attending  the  Min- 
isterial Department  of  our  Soonan  Training 
School. 

The  next  morning,  we  found  it  raining,  and 
we  had  a thirty-mile  walk  before  us  in  cross- 
ing back  over  the  island  to  Iltori.  By  this 
time,  too,  what  was  left  of  the  food  that  we 
had  brought  with  us  had  spoiled.  With 
gloomy  looks  we  ate  our  boiled  potatoes,  which 
were  all  we  had  to  eat  that  morning. 

After  breakfast,  we  started  out  in  the  driz- 
zling rain,  which  became  a steady  downpour 
as  we  climbed  up  the  trail  leading  over  the 


56 


Glimpses  of  Korea 


mountain  side.  We  walked  for  many  miles 
in  a six-foot  lane  that  had  a stone  wall  on 
either  side;  then  we  came  to  an  old  roadbed 
twelve  feet  wide.  In  ages  past,  a great  deal 
of  effort  had  been  put  forth  to  make  this 
road  suitable  for  wagons.  Great  cuts  and 
long  even  grades  had  been  established.  But 
we  found  some  deep  washouts  across  it,  which 
showed  that  it  had  many,  many  years  before 
fallen  into  disuse.  Tradition  says  that  when 
the  Mongols  planned  the  invasion  of  Japan 
in  the  thirteenth  century,  they  used  Quelpart 
as  a base  for  the  construction  of  ships,  and 
built  this  road  to  transport  the  timber  from 
the  mountain  to  the  beach. 

GOING  OVER  THE  TOP 

As  we  went  higher  and  higher  up  the  side 
of  the  mountain,  we  at  last  passed  the  bounds 
beyond  which  no  one  lived.  For  a time,  the 
stone  wall  was  only  on  one  side  of  the  path, 
while  the  upper  side  was  a wilderness  of  un- 
derbrush which  would  be  difficult  for  even  a 
rabbit  to  go  into;  and  finally  the  stone  wall 
gave  way  altogether.  These  higher  places 
were  almost  free  from  the  bowlders  and 
stones.  Besides  the  underbrush,  we  saw  large 
areas  of  beautiful  meadow  land,  wher6  horses 
and  cattle  roamed  at  will. 

At  the  top  of  the  divide,  the  rain  ceased, 
and  the  sun  shone  in  glory.  No  rain  had  fallen 


The  Trip  to.  Quelpart  and  Back  57 

on  the  north  side  of  the  island.  We  were  at 
that  time  some  two  thousand  feet  above  the 
sea,  and  we  could  see  fbr  miles  and  miles 
around.  There  were  spread  before  us  the 
various-colored  fields  of  many  shapes  and 
sizes  down  among  the  lower  levels.  Some 
parts  were  yet  green  with  the  first  crop,  some 
were  golden  with  ripening  grain,  while  others 
had  been  harvested,  and  replowed  for  the 
second  planting.  Beyond  this  were  the  un- 
ending reaches  of  the  Yellow  Sea;  and  above 
us,  now  and  then,  the  summit  of  the  mountain 
looked  out  from  among  the  clouds. 

We  arrived  at  Iltori  about  three-thirty  that 
afternoon,  very  hungry.  We  soon  found  a 
•Japanese  hotel  and  had  dinner.  Remember- 
ing the  very  unpleasant  night  we  had  spent  in 
this  city  before,  we  did  not  venture  to  have 
even  a Japanese  padded  mat,  which  isn’t  very 
soft,  you  know. 

THE  STRANGE  HOLE 

The  next  morning,  we  walked  out  through 
the  old  South  Gate,  over  lava  slabs  that  had 
been  polished  smooth  by  the  pattering  and 
shuffling  of  generations  of  sandaled  feet. 
There  were  stone  images  sitting  or  standing 
all  along  the  way.  They  were  as  solemn  look- 
ing on  their  pedestals  as  when  they  had  been 
placed  there  in  the  far-away  ages  of  the  past. 
These  were  the  gods  of  the  island.  The  storms 


58 


Glimpses  of  Korea 


and  the  cold  and  the  sun  had  pitted  them  and 
scarred  them,  but  the  people  treated  them 
with  great  respect  and  veneration. 

When  almost  a mile  beyond  the  city,  we 
came  to  a circular  stone  wall  that  inclosed 
some  five  acres  of  ground.  Within  this  wall 
was  a smaller  square  one.  Both  of  these  plots 
of  ground  are  considered  too  sacred  for  the 
plow ; so  the  inner  one  bears  only  grass,  while 
the  outer  one  is  a splendid  park  of  large,  fine, 
and  very  old  pine  trees.  In  the  center  of  the 
inner  inclosure  is  a hole  in  the  ground  about 
ten  feet  deep  by  twenty  across.  In  the  bottom 
of  this  hole  are  three  smaller  holes  around 
the  sides. 

In  front  of  this  strange  hole  is  a square 
platform  of  cut  rock;  and  resting  on  this  is 
a huge  granite  slab  declaring,  in  Chinese 
characters,  that  from  these  three  holes  issued 
the  first  parents  of  the  human  race.  The 
people,  believing  this,  take  their  little  island 
to  be  the  first  of  nations,  and  the  mother  of 
the  whole  world. 

We  were  thirty-six  hours  going  back  to 
Fusan,  where  we  caught  the  same  train  that 
you  came  in  on  yesterday.  It  was  the  Fourth 
of  July;  and  when  we  reached  home,  at  one 
o’clock,  a good  dinner  was  waiting  for  us. 
You  can’t  really  think  how  delightful  it  seemed 
to  be  at  home  again,  and  how  good  the  food 
tasted. 


A Look  in  at  the  Soonan  Mission 


A Bit  of  History — TJp  on  Top  — A Busy  School  — At 
the  Hospital  — Conference  Headquarters 

Since  we  have  had  our  lunch,  and  inas- 
much as  it  will  still  he  some  time  before  we 
reach  Seoul,  I will  tell  you  a little  of  our  work 
in  Northern  Korea.  You  remember  that  our 
work  in  this  peninsula  started  in  the  north- 
west part  of  Korea.  Here  our  first  school 
work  was  opened  in  what  has  since  grown  to 
be  our  Korean  Training  School.  Here,  too, 
our  first  medical  work  began  in  what  has 
since  grown  to  be  the  Soonan  Hospital- 
Dispensary.  To-day  this  part  of  the  mission, 
covering  the  three  northwest  provinces,  has 
developed  into  the  West  Chosen  Conference, 
with  headquarters  at  Soonan. 

To  keep  this  work  going  and  in  the  best 
of  shape,  a number  of  buildings  have  been 
erected.  We  now  have  at  this  station  three 
two-story  brick  dwellings ; one  two-story  brick 
school  building  large  enough  for  over  a hun- 
dred students  besides  the  primary  grades ; the 
new  two-story  hospital-dispensary  building, 
with  its  general  ward,  private  wards,  operat- 
ing room,  dispensary  room,  ocular  parlor, 
treatment  rooms,  and  so  forth.  There  is  also 
a large  brick  building  which  was  formerly 
used  as  a girls’  dormitory,  but  which  is  now 

(59) 


60 


Glimpses  of  Korea 


used  partly  as  a dwelling,  and  partly  as  a 
food  factory  in  connection  with  the  industrial 
department  of  the  school.  Besides,  there  are 
the  boys’  dormitories,  the  native  houses,  the 
barns,  and  other  buildings. 

You  can  see  that  there  are  many  workers 
and  much  work  at  Soonan.  It  is  indeed  a 
very  busy  place;  and  if  you  were  to  go  up 
there,  you  would  understand  this  even  more. 

If  you  should  stay  on  this  train  instead  of 
getting  off  at  Seoul,  you  would  arrive  in  Soo- 
nan at  about  five  o’clock  to-morrow  morning. 
If,  when  you  were  within  a few  miles  of  the 
railroad  station,  you  were  to  look  ahead  on 
the  right  side  some  half  mile  from  the  track, 
you  would  see  the  mission  station  right  on  the 
top  of  a hill  and  several  hundred  feet  above 
the  valley.  Up  there  it  is  free  and  airy;  just 
the  thing  for  the  sluggish  Korean  summers, 
but  a little  breezy  for  the  blustery  winters. 
Still  those  who  live  there  would  not  want  to 
make  a change. 

VISITING  THE  SCHOOL 

In  going  up  to  the  mission,  which  is  about 
a mile  from  the  railroad  station,  you  would 
pass  part  of  the  school  farm.  There  is  an 
acre  or  two  of  strawberries,  which  would 
please  you.  Our  school  is  an  industrial  one, 
you  see,  and  we  have  some  forty  acres  of  farm 
land.  Part  is  in  bearing  orchards,  mulberry 


A Look  in  at  -the  Soonan  Mission  61 

trees,  and  grapes,  there  is  some  young  or- 
chard, and  the  rest  is  used  for  general  farm- 
ing. 

After  going  a little  distance  farther,  you 
would  see  on  the  right  the  little  thatched-roof 


Our  Primary  School  at  Soonan 


native  house  where  Doctor  Russell  began  his 
medical  work  in  Korea,  and  where  he  treated 
thousands  of  patients  while  he  was  waiting 
for  the  money  to  be  raised  in  America  for  a 
better  building.  Just  across  the  side  road 
from  here,  you  would  see  the  new  dispensary- 
hospital  building,  which  was  just  erected,  and 
for  which  the  doctor  waited  so  long.  Across 


5 


62  Glimpses  of  Korea 

the  road  from  the  hospital  is  the  girls’  dormi- 
tory. 

Standing  in  front  of  the  hospital  building, 
you  could  look  up  the  road  about  a hundred 
yards  and  see  the  training  school;  and  still 
another  hundred  yards  would  bring  you  to 
three  dwelling  houses  for  the  workers. 

If  you  went  down  to  chapel  exercises  at  the 
school  in  the  morning,  you  would  meet  about 
one  hundred  and  twenty-five  students  gath- 
ered for  worship,  and  this  does  not  count  the 
primary  department.  You  would  find  the 
students  sitting  on  the  floor,  row  upon  row, 
on  round  straw  mats.  All  these  young  men 
are  in  the  high  school  grades.  They  are  bright 
looking  boys,  with  no  long  hair  hanging  down 
their  backs  in  dirty,  greasy  braids,  such  as 
you  see  on  these  heathen  all  about  us.  Their 
clothes  are  neat  and  clean,  and  they  sit  up 
straight  and  have  some  life  in  them. 

A good  many  of  our  young  ministers  and 
departmental  workers,  besides  our  church 
school  teachers,  came  through  this  school. 
And  there  are  many  boys  in  the  school  now 
who  are  definitely  planning  and  fitting  them- 
selves for  the  .Lord’s  work.  It  is  on  these 
students  that  we  are  depending  quite  largely 
for  the  supply  of  workers  that  are  to  carry 
the  gospel  message  to  the  thousands  of  valleys 
and  the  millions  of  people  of  Korea ; and  they 
are  not  going  to  disappoint  us. 


A Look  in  at  the  Soonan  Mission  63 

After  chapel,  you  might  go  down  to  the 
hospital  for  a while.  The  doctor  and  his  wife 
spend  most  of  their  time  at  the  hospital,  even 
though  they  have  two  native  assistant  doctors 
and  a nurse  or  two. 

AT  THE  HOSPITAL 

In  the  front  hall  of  the  building,  you  would 
no  doubt  see  many  natives  waiting  for  medical 
aid  of  some  kind.  To  one  side,  you  would  see 
a pass  window  leading  through  into  the  room 
where  medicines  are  kept,  and  where  all 
callers  make  their  wants  known.  If  it  is  just 
medicine  that  they  want,  they  obtain  it  and 
go ; while  if  they  require  examination  or 
treatment,  they  are  furnished  with  tickets, 
and  await  their  turn  to  pass  through  into  the 
dispensary  treatment  room.  After  coming 
in,  they  are  looked  over  by  the  attending  physi- 
cian; and  usually,  because  they  are  so  dirty, 
they  are  sent  into  the  bathroom,  where  they  are 
thoroughly  cleaned  up.  Then  they  are  ready 
for  examination  or  treatment.  Those  who 
require  special  treatment  are  passed  on  up 
to  the  second  floor,  where  the  general  and 
private  wards  are  situated. 

In  this  building  and  in  similar  ones  through- 
out the  Far  East,  our  medical  missionaries 
meet  with  the  most  awful  diseases  known  to  hu- 
manity. Here,  where  vice  has  run  unchecked 
for  ages,  bitter  indeed  is  the  harvest  that  is 
reaped  by  the  generation  of  to-day.  There  is 


64 


Glimpses  of  Korea 


a young  man  in  the  hospital  at  Soonan  who  is 
paying  the  extreme  price  for  the  sins  of  his 
parents  or  grandparents.  He  went  through 
our  school  there,  became  an  efficient  secre- 
tary, and  connected  with  our  press  at  Seoul 
as  proof  reader.  Now  he  lies  there  with  eye- 
sight gone,  while  in  agony  he  waits  the  call  of 
death,  which  is  rapidly  approaching.  Only  a 
few  more  days  and  he  will  have  passed  away. 

If  you  want  to  know  the  most  pitiful  side  of 
the  East,  just  go  into  one  of  its  mission  hos- 
pitals for  a few  days,  and  there  you  will  be- 
hold it,  bare,  bold,  and  unvarnished,  repulsive 
in  the  extreme. 

After  having  been  through  the  hospital  and 
having  seen  the  dark  side  of  the  picture,  you 
could  walk  up  to  visit  the  conference  office. 
Here  you  would  find  the  tract  society  and 
conference  headquarters,  with  its  various  de- 
partments. Then  after  having  seen  every- 
thing there,  and  having  been  told  of  the  work 
that  is  represented  there,  you  would  surely 
take  heart,  and  praise  the  God  of  heaven,  who 
has  accomplished  all  this ; for  this  bright  side 
of  the  picture  would  almost  eclipse  the  dark 
side  that  you  saw  at  the  hospital. 


Some  Strange  Customs 

Men  Who  Are  Boys — “Hair  Done  Up” — White  and 
Black  Hats  — The  Go-Between  — Hammering  the  Clothes 
— Two  Years  Old  Two  Days  After  Birth  — Sticking  a 
“Chim”  In  — Centipede  Medicine  — The  Native  Reli- 
gions— New  Church  Every  Day 

It  is  growing  dark,  still  we  have  several 
hours  to  spend  on  the  train.  During  this  time, 
I am  going  to  tell  you  something  of  the  strange 
Korean  customs.  Some  you  may  have  already 
noticed. 

You  have  seen  that  most  of  the  men  wear 
the  topknot,  while  most  of  the  boys  wear  long 
hair  hanging  down  their  backs  in  one  or  two 
braids.  But  you  have  also  seen  some  men  with 
long  hair  the  same  as  the  boys,  and  you  have 
likewise  seen  some  of  the  larger  boys  with 
their  hair  done  up  in  topknots.  I will  explain. 

A boy  is  supposed  to  wear  his  hair  down 
his  back  until  his  wedding  day.  Then  the 
center  of  the  head  is  shaved,  and  the  hair  left 
around  the  outside  is  drawn  up  over  this  and 
formed  into  the  topknot.  In  this  way  a man 
is  a boy  until  he  is  married.  A man  may  be 
fifty;  but  if  his  hair  is  down,  he  is  still  a boy, 
and  treated  as  one.  On  the  other  hand,  a boy 
of  twelve,  if  his  hair  is  up,  is  a man,  and  is 
treated  with  all  the  respect  due  a man. 


(65) 


66 


Glimpses  of  Korea 


I remember  being  at  one  of  our  country 
churches  one  day  when  a lad  of  about  twelve 
came  in  and  sat  down;  whereupon  Brother 
Smith  inquired  of  one  of  the  brethren  whose 
boy  he  was.  The  brother  answered,  “That  is 


The  Mourning  Hat 


not  a boy;  that  is  a man.”  I looked  again, 
and  saw  that  he  wore  a topknot. 

The  girls,  like  the  boys,  have  their  hair  done 
up  on  their  wedding  day;  but  until  then,  it 
hangs  down  their  backs  in  a single  braid. 
However,  the  girls’  heads  are  not  shaved  on 
top,  but  the  hair  is  done  up  with  a hairpin 
on  the  back  of  the  head,  the  front  being 
combed  back  perfectly  tight  after  being  oiled. 


Some  Strange  Customs  ' 


67 


Oftentimes,  when  we  would  say  a certain  girl 
has  been  married,  the  natives  will  say,  “ She 
has  had  her  hair  done  up.” 

The  most  of  the  Koreans  wear  the  little 
horsehair  hats ; but  you  have  occasionally  seen 
one  with  a large,  drooping  straw  hat  with 
brim  coming  well  down  over  the  shoulders. 
Most  of  the  horsehair  hats  are  black,  while 
you  have  seen  a few  that  were  white.  There 
is  a deep  meaning  to  these  hats.  This  is  the 
way:  If  a man  loses  either  parent  through 
death,  he  is  supposed  to  wear  one  of  these 
wide-brimmed  hats  for  a year ; and  the  second 
year,  he  wears  a white  horsehair  hat. 

He  wears  the  large  hat  because  he  feels  that 
for  some  reason  he  has  offended  the  gods  and 
they  have  killed  the  parent.  He  feels  so 
greatly  ashamed  of  himself  that  he  refuses  to 
allow  his  neighbors  to  gaze  upon  his  face. 
Sometimes  he  carries  a piece  of  cloth  attached 
to  a stick,  as  we  carry  a flag,  except  that  he 
has  another  stick  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
cloth.  When  meeting  another  person,  he  takes 
a stick  in  each  hand,  and  holds  the  flag  over 
his  face. 

Most  of  these  people  with  mourning  hats 
on  wear  also  suits  made  of  a different  kind  of 
cloth  from  the  usual  muslin.  It  is  about  the 
color  of  dead  grass,  and  is  in  fact  woven  from 
some  kind  of  grass.  It  is  similar  to  the  sack- 
cloth of  Bible  times. 


68 


Glimpses  of  Korea 


THE  GO-BETWEEN 

Another  strange  custom  of  Korea,  as  in 
most  of  the  East,  is  the  use  of  the  go-between. 
Everything  that  you  would  say  to  another  that 
in  any  way  might  be  distasteful  to  that  one 
must  be  said  through  a go-between.  When  we 
first  came  to  this  country,  we  were  likely  to 
forget  this  custom  and  tell  a man  to  his  face 
whatever  we  had  to  say;  but  we  learned  that 
the  go-between  is  a great  help  here  — almost 
a necessary  evil,  we  would  say. 

In  engagements  and  marriages,  the  young 
people  have  nothing  to  do,  nor  can  they  do 
anything ; for  the  parents  themselves,  or 
through  a go-between,  arrange  everything  in 
a satisfactory  manner  as  far  as  they  them- 
selves are  concerned. 

There  is  a curse,  though,  that  comes  from 
this  go-between  system,  and  that  is  the  plu- 
rality of  wives  — a number  of  wives.  Many 
thousands  of  men,  after  they  come  to  middle 
age,  pick  out  a woman  of  their  choice ; but  she 
becomes  the  second  wife  or  concubine. 

THE  POOR  WOMEN  OF  KOREA 

Here,  when  a young  man  is  married,  he 
does  not  found  a home  of  his  own,  as  in 
America  and  other  civilized  countries,  but  his 
wife  comes  into  his  father’s  home,  to  become 
a servant  as  long  as  the  mother-in-law  lives. 
Her  life  is  usually  one  of  toil  and  hardship, 


Some  Strange  Customs  69 

with  very  few  bright  days.  Her  only  satis- 
faction is  to  look  forward  to  the  time  when 
she  herself  as  a mother-in-law  will  have  the 
privilege  of  lording  it  over  another  girl. 

The  lot  of  women  in  Korea  is  one  of  toil 
and  sorrow,  hedged  in  by  superstition  and  fear, 
with  no  education  to  begin  life  with,  and  no 
praise  or  sympathy  while  it  is  in  progress, 
and  little  regret  when  it  is  ended.  Cooking 
and  sewing  are  both  real  jobs.  Consider  that 
generally,  in  preparing  a meal,  a woman  has 
to  take  the  rice  in  the  hulls,  put  it  in  a hole 
in  the  end  of  a large  block,  and  then  beat  it 
with  a heavy  club  nearly  as  large  as  a fence 
post.  She  raises  this  club  high  up,  and  brings 
it  down  with  all  her  might  into  the  rice,  con- 
tinuing the  process  until  the  hulls  are  all 
pounded  off.  Then  she  takes  the  rice  out  and 
blows  away  the  chaff.  All  their  clothes  have 
to  be  made  by  hand,  and  that  is  a slow  task. 

The  mode  of  washing  here  is  not  easy.  The 
clothes  are  taken  to  some  running  stream, 
where  they  are  dipped  into  the  water,  then 
taken  out  one  at  a time  and  placed  on  a large, 
flat  rock,  where  they  are  hammered  with  clubs 
until  the  water  is  all  hammered  out.  Then 
they  are  redipped  and  hammered  again  and 
again,  until  they  are  fairly  clean.  Next  they 
are  taken  to  the  house,  and  placed  in  strong 
lye  water  in  the  cooking  kettle  and  boiled. 
After  this,  they  are  again  taken  to  the  creek, 


70  Glimpses  of  Korea 

to  be  put  through  the  hammering  process 
once  more. 

Sometimes  the  women  place  the  clothes  in 
baskets  on  their  heads  and  carry  them  for 
miles  in  order  to  find  a suitable  washing  place. 
At  most  of  these  laundry  spots,  you  will  see  a 
dozen  or  so  women  busy  at  their  work. 


The  Korean  Women’s  Method  of  Laundering 


Then  you  should  see  how  the  clothes  are 
ironed!  They  are  folded  up  and  placed  on  a 
large,  flat  block  or  a flat  rock,  and  hammered 
with  round  clubs  until  the  wrinkles  are  all 
hammered  out,  the  ironer  holding  a club  in 
each  hand. 

Another  thing  that  makes  much  work  for 
the  women  is  the  winter  clothes.  These  are 
made  with  cotton  padding.  When  they  are 


Some  Strange  Customs  71 

washed,  they  have  to  be  ripped  up,  and  re- 
sewed after  laundering. 

THE  QUEER  WAY  OF  COUNTING  AGES 

Aside  from  all  this  and  many  other  duties 
around  the  house,  the  women  are  compelled 
to  go  out  to  the  fields  and  spend  long  hours 
at  weeding,  hoeing,  and  in  other  farm  work. 
American  girls  and  women  who  have  seen  the 
misery  and  work  of  the  women  of  the  Far 
East,  have  been  very  thankful  that  they  were 
horn  in  a more  favored  land. 

Another  queer  custom  of  Korea  is  their  way 
of  reckoning  ages.  A child  is  a year  old  at 
birth,  and  another  year  is  added  to  his  age 
on  the  first  New  Year,  thus  making  a child 
born  the  day  before  New  Year’s  day  two 
years  old  two  days  after  birth. 

In  asking  ages,  they  usually  say,  “How 
many  New  Year’s  cakes  have  you  eaten?” 
This  way  of  reckoning  ages  bothers  foreigners 
for  a long  time.  Thus  when  any  of  the 
Koreans  ask  us  the  age  of  a boy  or  a girl,  and 
we  tell  them,  without  thinking,  according  to 
our  way  of  saying  it,  they  naturally  think  the 
child  very  large  for  its  age. 

Korea  is  also  a land  of  spirits.  The  people, 
in  imagination,  see  spirits  all  around  them, 
mostly  evil  ones,  too.  Every  calamity,  every 
adversity,  and  every  mishap,  whatever  its 
nature,  is  the  work  of  these  spirits,  so  they 


72 


Glimpses  of  Korea 


think.  If  a person  is  sick,  or  has  a pain  in 
any  part  of  the  body,  there  must  be  an  evil 
spirit  within  which  needs  to  be  driven  out 
in  order  to  make  the  patient  well.  And  such 
strange  ways  they  have  to  do  this ! The  most 
common  one  is  to  stick  a chim  (an  instrument 
like  a large  darning  needle)  into  the  place 
where  the  pain  is.  These  chims  are  none  too 
clean,  so  there  is  very  often  an  infection ; and 
thousands  of  people  lose  their  lives  as  a result 
of  using  dirty  chims . 

A much  used  way  of  driving  the  evil  spirit 
out  of  a small  child  is  to  put  a piece  of  some- 
thing that  looks  like  wax,  about  the  size  of 
a thimble,  on  the  child’s  head  and  set  it  on 
fire.  It  burns  slowly,  and  makes  a hole  in  the 
little  one’s  head.  You  meet  thousands  of 
grown-ups  with  a deep  scar  on  the  head  where 
no  hair  grows. 

MEDICINES  OF  STRANGE  CONCOCTIONS 

The  physicians  of  Korea’s  old  school  are 
quacks  beside  whom  the  patent  medicine  men 
of  America  stand  as  professionals  by  contrast. 
They  make  medicine  of  the  most  unthought  of 
things.  A bear’s  gall  is  prized  highly  for 
medicine,  and  brings  more  in  a sale  than  the 
hide  and  the  flesh  together.  Centipedes  are 
sought  far  and  wide,  to  be  ground  up  into 
medicine.  Deer’s  horns,  when  soft,  as  they 
are  in  early  summer,  bring  fabulous  prices. 


Some  Strange  Customs  73 

Besides  these,  almost  every  imaginable  root 
is  used,  and  some  other  unmentionable  things. 

The  Japanese  government  is  trying  to  do 
away  with  the  quack  doctors.  They  have 
established  medical  schools  and  have  encour- 
aged scientific  medical  education  and  prac- 
tice; but  it  is  as  hard  to  wean  these  people 
from  their  false  ideas  and  practices  of  ages 
as  it  is  to  turn  them  from  their  false  gods. 

The  first  language  teacher  that  we  had  after 
coming  to  Korea  was  afflicted  with  a running 
sore  on  one  of  his  feet.  It  had  been  in  that 
way  for  over  a year.  He  was  using  various 
kinds  of  native  yak  (medicine)  concocted 
from  such  things  as  I have  mentioned,  or 
worse.  We  told  the  man  to  leave  his  yak 
entirely  alone  and  we  would  soak  his  foot  in 
hot  water  every  day,  using  boracic  acid  pow- 
der afterwards.  He  consented  to  this;  but  a 
number  of  times,  he  came  in  in  the  morning 
with  native  yak  pasted  all  over  the  sore,  until 
we  became  almost  discouraged  in  trying  to  do 
anything  for  him.  Finally,  however,  we  kept 
the  native  medicine  off  long  enough  for  the 
foot  to  heal  over;  but  the  fight  was  a long, 
stubborn  one. 

RELIGIONS  OF  KOREA 

Let  me  tell  you  something  of  the  religions 
of  Korea.  Confucianism  and  Buddhism  were 
early  introduced  into  this  country.  When 


74 


Glimpses  of  Korea 


visiting  the  Diamond  Mountains,  I saw  a 
Buddhist  monastery  that  was  over  a thousand 
years  old;  but  even  this  does  not  go  back  to 
the  beginning  of  Buddhism  here.  Both  of 
these  religions  have  made  a lasting  impres- 
sion upon  the  people  of  the  land.  Because  of 


A Buddhist  monastery  over  a thousand  years  old. 


these  religions,  ancestor  worship  — that  is, 
worship  of  parents  and  grandparents  — is 
common.  On  certain  days  during  the  year, 
sacrifices  are  offered  to  the  spirits  of  parents 
and  grandparents.  This  is  done  at  their 
graves. 

The  worship  of  ancestors  has  led  to  the 
keeping  of  a very  strict  chronological  record, 
and  this  means  that  each  individual  knows  his 
parentage  for  generations  back.  Once  when 


Some  Strange  Customs 


75 


visiting  a country  church,  I asked  the  elder 
if  his  people  had  resided  in  that  district  very 
long;  whereupon  he  answered  in  all  serious- 
ness, “No,  not  long;  only  fourteen  genera- 
tions.” 

About  the  close  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
when  the  country  had  degenerated  about  as 
far  as  a nation  can,  tjie  people  began  to  lose 
confidence  in  their  gods  and  their  religions. 
It  was  at  this  opportune  time  that  God  planned 
k the  preaching  of  the  gospel  in  Korea,  with  the 
result  that  thousands  believed  in  Jesus. 

In  1884,  the  first  Protestant  church  began 
active  missionary  work  in  this  country.  By 
the  year  1898,  five  great  Protestant  denomina- 
tions were  here,  being  supported  by  the  home 
churches  of  America,  England,  and  Australia. 
The  first  twenty  years  of  missionary  endeavor 
saw  twenty  thousand  native  Christians  in 
Korea;  while  a convert  every  hour,  and  a 
new  church  every  day,  has  been  the  record 
here  for  the  past  thirty  years.  This  is  a won- 
derful growth  when  you  remember  that  a few 
short  decades  ago  this  was  the  “Hermit  King- 
dom,” and  that  foreigners  were  called  devils 
and  killed  almost  on  sight.  In  no  other  coun- 
try of  the  Orient  has  Christianity  made  the 
growth  that  it  has  made  right  here. 

Although  we  as  a denomination  were  rather 
late  in  the  field,  still  we  have  made  progress. 


76 


Glimpses  of  Korea 


We  now  have  in  this  land  a union  mission, 
consisting  of  a local  conference  and  two  or- 
ganized mission  fields,  besides  the  work  that 
the  union  is  doing  for  the  Korean  settlers  in 
Manchuria.  There  we  have  an  ordained  and 
a licensed  minister  and  nearly  a hundred  be- 
lievers. All  told,  we  have  in  the  union  some- 
thing over  two  thousand  Sabbath-school  mem- 
bers and  over  a thousand  baptized  believers. 

Now  we  shall  soon  be  at  Seoul;  so  I will 
stop  my  story,  and  we  will  make  ready  to  get 
off,  because  we  must  rush  if  we  would  catch 
the  last  car  that  runs  out  toward  the  mission 
station. 


At  the  Union  Conference  Office 


Modern  Seoul  — Sam  Kak  San  — The  Publishing  Plant 
— Reading  Backwards 

We  made  a quick  get-away  from  that  train, 
didn’t  we?  And  here  we  are  on  the  street 
car  going  toward  home.  We  are  passing  old 
South  Gate  now.  Here  the  old  city  wall  has 
been  torn  away,  and  only  the  gate  remains. 
They  have  both  served  their  day;  and  while 
they  were  an  effectual  barricade  in  the  olden 
times,  they  would  be  valueless  in  this  day  of 
modern  war  equipment.  The  gate  is  left  as 
a monument  to  an  age  that  has  forever  passed 
away.  The  street  cars  used  to  run  through 
the  gate  when  the  system  was  first  installed; 
but  now  they  go  around  it,  as  you  see. 

What  you  see  of  Seoul  along  this  street  is 
quite  modern  and  new.  Of  course,  there  are 
a few  tumble-down  native  shacks  to  give 
variety  to  the  scene,  else  you  might  forget 
that  you  are  really  in  Korea.  This  large 
stone  building  on  the  left  is  the  Chosen  Bank, 
and  one  of  the  best  buildings  in  the  whole 
Orient.  Just  across  the  corner  there  is  the 
post-office  building,  another  substantial  struc- 
ture and  a credit  to  the  Japanese  government. 

Although  you  can  not  see  far  to-night,  you 
will  learn  later  that  Seoul  is  a city  fenced  in 

(77) 


6 


78 


Glimpses  of  Korea 


almost  entirely  with  mountains.  It  has  been 
the  capital  of  Korea  for  some  five  hundred 
years.  It  was  a typical  Oriental  city,  with 
a massive  wall  about  it,  narrow,  crooked 
streets  within,  mostly  one-storv  buildings  with 
thatched  roofs,  and  no  water  system.  Here, 
also,  were  the  stately  palaces  of  its  monarehs, 
several  of  which  still  stand,  shut  away  from 
common  eyes  by  high,  massive  stone  walls. 

Civilization  had  made  some  changes  in  the 
city  even  before  the  Japanese  came,  but  it 
took  a faster  pace  afterwards.  Straight, 
broad  streets  have  been  cut  across  the  city; 
a creditable  water  system  has  been  installed; 
modern  brick  and  concrete  buildings  have 
been  erected ; an  electric  light  system  has  been 
established  that  reaches  into  the  outlying  sub- 
urbs ; while  paved  streets  take  the  place  of  the 
narrow,  crooked,  muddy  ones  of  a few  decades 
ago.  Still  there  are  many  places  within  the 
city  where  little  change  has  been  made.  Be- 
tween the  broad  new  streets,  the  narrow, 
crooked  alleys  are  there  as  of  old. 

BACK  IX  THE  MOUNTAINS 

To  the  north  of  the  city,  and  also  to  the 
south,  are  mountain  fortresses,  where  large 
sections  are  inclosed  by  stone  walls,  with 
palaces  and  houses  built  within  them  for  the 
king,  his  court,  and  his  army,  should  they  be 
compelled  to  retreat  in  time  of  invasion.  The 


At  the  Uniox  Conference  Office  79 

south  fort  was  used  at  the  time  of  the  Man- 
churian invasion ; but,  as  far  as  I know, 
Pook-Han,  or  the  north  fortress,  was  never 
used  as  a retreat  by  the  sovereign. 

Pook-Han  is  about  seven  miles  north  of 
Seoul,  and  occupies  a sort  of  basin  near  the 
top  of  the  highest  mountains  in  this  section 
of  the  peninsula.  It  furnishes  a fine  day’s 
outing  for  those  who  take  pleasure  in  moun- 
tain climbing.  Some  of  us  here  at  the  com- 
pound have  made  two  different  trips  to  the 
place.  There  are  three  rocky  summits  up 
there  called  Sam  Kak  San  (Three-Horned 
Mountain),  the  climbing  of  which  furnishes 
excitement  enough  for  almost  anybody.  In 
fact,  it  is  said  that  one  of  them  has  never 
been  scaled.  We  climbed  the  others  on  our 
two  excursion  trips. 

Here  we  are  at  East  Gate,  where  we 
must  change  cars.  I thought  we  might  get 
here  too  late  to  catch  the  last  car  out,  but  we 
are  in  time.  It  is  about  three  miles  from  here 
to  the  mission  homes. 

While  we  are  riding  out,  I will  tell  you 
something  of  our  mission  station.  This  is 
the  headquarters  of  the  Chosen  Union  Con- 
ference, and  our  publishing  house  also  is 
located  here.  It  is  the  largest  station  that  we 
have  in  Korea.  At  the  present  time,  there 
are  five  dwelling  houses;  but  another,  or  per- 
haps two,  will  have  to  be  built  before  the 


80 


Glimpses  of  Korea 


station  will  be  able  to  take  care  of  the  families 
that  will  be  needed  in  connection  with  the 
work  here.  So  far,  two  families  have  been 
living  in  some  of  the  houses. 

The  publishing  house  was  large  enough  to 
furnish  offices  for  all  and  a chapel  for  wor- 
ship ; but  with  our  growing  work,  it  has 
become  too  small,  and  plans  have  been  laid 
looking  forward  to  an  enlargement. 

Well,  here  we  are  at  the  end  of  the  car 
line;  so  we  shall  have  to  get  off,  turn  our 
hand  bags  over  to  a coolie,  and  walk  on  out 
to  the  station,  which  is  almost  a mile  from 
here. 

LOOKING  AROUND  THE  OFFICES 

Now  that  we  have  had  worship,  and  eaten 
our  breakfast,  suppose  we  go  over  and  see 
how  things  are  going  at  the  publishing  plant. 
You  will  see  that  we  do  many  things  quite 
differently  here  from  the  way  they  are  done 
in  the  States,  some  because  of  necessity,  some 
because  of  custom,  and  some  apparently  for 
no  reason  at  all. 

Here  we  are  in  the  entrance  to  the  building. 
This  door  to  the  left  leads  into  our  church 
school  room,  where  Miss  Hibben  is  teaching 
our  own  children.  You  would  feel  at  home 
in  there,  I know,  and  would  be  able  to  forget 
that  you  are  in  Korea,  except  when  the  funeral 
trains  go  by  outside  with  their  heart-rending, 
mournful  cries.  The  door  on  the  right  under 


At  the  Union  Conference  Office  81 

the  stairway,  leads  to  the  press  secretary’s 
office  and  the  stockroom.  The  second  door 
opens  into  the  conference  treasurer’s  office. 
The  hall  leads  out  into  the  pressroom.  We 
will  go  out  there  first. 

Here  are  the  type  racks,  with  their  thou- 
sands of  Chinese  characters,  besides  the  hun- 
dreds of  native  Korean  characters.  There  are 
no  linotype  machines  here;  nor  has  any  sort 
of  machine  yet  been  invented  to  set  this  type, 
because  of  the  large  number  of  characters. 
They  all  have  to  be  picked  out  of  the  racks 
by  hand  and  placed  in  a small  box  holding  a 
few  hundred  of  them;  then  they  are  turned 
over  to  another  man,  who  arranges  them, 
with  proper  spacing,  into  lines  of  the  required 
length. 

An  impression  is  then  taken  of  them  on 
that  little  proof  press  there  that  looks  like 
the  one  Franklin  used;  and  this  is  sent  up 
to  my  room  for  proof  reading.  I mark  all 
the  wrong  characters,  then  return  it  for  cor- 
rection. This  process  has  to  be  repeated  the 
second  time.  Next  the  type  is  made  up  in 
pages,  corresponding  to  a magazine.  After 
this,  it  is  made  ready  for  printing. 

LEARNING  THE  WAY  THEY  TALK 

Over  there  is  our  new  press  on  which  the 
magazine  is  printed.  We  have  been  waiting 
for  a long  time  for  this  press,  while  we  have 


82 


Glimpses  of  Korea 


been  trying  to  turn  out  creditable  reading 
matter  on  that  little  rattletrap  of  a Japanese 
press.  The  new  press  is  going  to  give  us  a 
better  and  neater  paper;  and,  of  course,  that 
will  help  in  building  up  our  circulation. 

Now  we’ll  go  upstairs  to  the  other  offices. 
The  first  one  here  on  the  right  is  the  union 
Sabbath-school  department’s  office.  The  sec- 
ond one  is  the  office  of  the  field  secretary 
and  his  native  secretary.  The  first  door  on 
the  left  leads  into  the  Chosen  Union  Con- 
ference president’s  office.  The  next  one  opens 
into  the  Central  Mission  superintendent’s  of- 
fice ; and  the  hall  leads  on  into  the  large 
editorial  room.  Here  the  translator,  copy 
writers,  and  proof  readers  work.  My  office 
opens  off  there  at  the  side.  I have  also  the 
head  writer  on  the  magazine  in  my  office. 

Here  on  my  desk  is  the  last  month’s  maga- 
zine. The  back  is  the  front,  you  see;  and  in 
reading  it,  we  start  at  the  back  and  read  for- 
ward. But  instead  of  reading  across  the 
page,  we  begin  at  the  top  and  read  down.  In 
this  language,  every  sentence  is  turned  around 
from  the  way  we  put  it;  for  they  always  put 
the  verb  as  the  very  last  word  in  the  sentence. 
Thus  instead  of  saying,  “That  is  a white 
house,”  they  say,  “That  house  white  is.” 
Where  we  would  ask,  “Have  you  eaten  your 
breakfast?”  they  ask,  “You  breakfast  eaten 
have?” 


At  the  Union  Conference  Office  83 

It  seems  sometimes  that  everything  we  meet 
here  is  turned  squarely  around.  It  takes 
years  to  get  the  Korean  viewpoint,  and  then 
it  is  hard  to  remember. 

Our  publishing  work  in  Korea  has  shown 
a steady  increase  from  year  to  year,  until  now 
we  are  printing  a sixty-eight  page  monthly 
magazine,  “The  Signs  of  the  Times,”  a sixteen 
page  monthly  church  paper,  “The  Church 
Compass,”  and  are  translating  and  printing 
two  Sabbath-school  quarterlies  each  quarter, 
one  for  the  children  and  women,  and  one  for 
the  men.  We  have  also  a series  of  tracts 
covering  our  message.  We  have  printed  an 
abridgment  of  “Patriarchs  and  Prophets,” 
and  several  of  our  smaller  books;  and  we  are 
translating  “Gospel  Workers”  at  present. 
We  expect  to  bring  out  others  of  our  truth- 
filled  books  just  as  soon  as  copy  can  be  pre- 
pared and  the  money  raised  for  the  printing. 
We  are  making  every  effort  to  scatter  these 
printed  pages  like  the  leaves  of  autumn,  as 
we  have  been  told  by  God’s  servant. 


Tombs  and  Watchers 


The  Village  Street — “Cull  Pang” — Visiting  the  Royal 
Tombs  — The  Stone  Guardians  — The  Subterranean  Pas- 
sage— The  Watchei's 

Dinnek  being  over,  let’s  get  all  the  children 
of  the  compound  together  and  go  for  a little 
walk.  You  have  seen  how  the  wooded  hills 
come  right  down  to  our  compound,  and  that 
these  are  the  only  hills  of  the  neighborhood 
that  are  covered  with  large  trees.  The  reason 
for  this  is  that  these  hills  are  what  are  known 
as  the  Royal  Tombs.  There  are  several  places 
near  here  where  royalty  lies  buried.  These 
grounds  thus  belong  to  the  state  and  are  held 
sacred  by  the  people.  We  will  go  to  one  of 
these  tombs  this  afternoon,  so  that  you  can 
see  how  they  are  arranged. 

We  must  first  pass  through  this  village  that 
borders  here  on  our  publishing  house  lot. 
Most  of  these  places  along  the  road  are  public 
eating  houses — “short-order  hohses”  I sup- 
pose we  would  call  them  in  America.  As  they 
are  thus  situated  on  one  of  the  main  roads 
leading  into  Seoul,  thousands  of  people  pass 
every  day,  and  many  of  them  stop  here  and 
eat  their  meals.  You  see  them  sitting  there 
on  the  earth  floor  in  front  of  the  little  benches 
on  which  are  their  bowls  of  rice  and  other 
food.  They  are  eating,  of  course,  with  chop- 

(84) 


Tombs-  and  Watchers  85 

sticks.  The  flies  are  thick  on  the  food,  but  the 
people  don’t  seem  to  care. 

Dozens  of  small  children  play  here  in  the 
street,  many  without  any  clothing,  and  some 
with  only  little  jackets  on.  Very  seldom  is 
there  one  in  a full  suit. 

Here  is  what  we  call  a Cull  Pang  in  Korea, 
or  a place  where  boys  study  Chinese  charac- 
ters. You  see  the  little  fellows  are  sitting  on 
the  earth  floor,  with  their  Chinese  character 
books  in  front  of  them;  and  they  repeat  the 
words  and  letters  aloud.  They  vie  with  each 
other  to  see  which  can  shout  loudest.  They  sit 
here  all  day  long  shouting.  In  the  govern- 
ment schools,  the  quiet  system  of  study  that 
you  are  acquainted  with  at  home  is  used.  We 
follow  the  quiet  system  in  our  church  schools 
here  in  Korea,  too. 

Aside  from  these  eating  houses,  you  see  a 
few  native  shops  where  rice,  beans,  a little 
cloth,  coal  oil,  and  other  such  things  are  sold. 
There  are  also  a few  blacksmith  shops  where 
farming  tools  are  made  and  bullocks  and 
horses  are  shod.  Off  the  main  street  are  a 
few  score  houses  where  the  farming  people 
of  the  district  live.  We  have  here  a typical 
Korean  village,  except  that  it  has  more  shops 
than  such  a village  usually  has. 

THE  TOMB  MOUNDS 

If  you  look  to  the  head  of  this  valley,  you 
will  see  the  tomb  to  which  we  are  going.  It 


86 


Glimpses  of  Korea 


is  on  that  elevation  of  some  fifty  feet  or  more. 
Now,  having  crossed  the  little  valley  with  its 
rice  fields,  we  come  to  another  village.  One  of 
our  workers  lives  in  that  house  with  the  little 
screened-in  porch.  Some  of  our  people  have 
learned  that  flies  bring  dysentery,  a disease 
that  is  plentiful  in  Korea  all  through  the 
summer  months;  and  they  know,  too,  that 
mosquitoes  cause  malaria,  and  there  is  plenty 
of  that,  too.  So  they  try  to  keep  these  pests 
out  of  their  houses. 

Here  we  are  at  the  tombs,  after  a walk  of 
about  three  fourths  of  a mile.  You  see  the 
location  is  good,  and  commands  a splendid 
view  of  the  little  valley.  We  sometimes  bring 
our  lunch  over  here  on  Sabbath  and  eat  it  on 
the  grass.  The  tomb  is  marked  by  a well- 
sodded  mound  of  earth  some  ten  feet  high  by 
perhaps  twenty  across.  A stone  and  brick 
wall  reaches  around  the  back  and  the  sides, 
while  the  front  is  left  open.  The  space  be- 
tween the  tomb  and  the  wall  is  some  twenty 
feet  wide;  and  in  this  space,  facing  away 
from  the  tomb,  are  about  twenty  stone  images 
of  lions  and  rams  set  alternately. 

In  front  of  the  tomb,  standing  on  massive 
stone  legs,  is  the  sacrificial  table,  which  is 
merely  a slab  of  granite  about  six  by  ten  feet 
square,  polished  smoothly.  On  either  side  of 
this  wide  passageway  leading  up  to  the  tomb 
are  a stone  horse  and  a warrior,  a stone  horse 


Tombs  and  Watchers 


87 


and  a priest.  The  horses  are  of  ordinary  size, 
but  the  men  are  twelve  feet  high.  These  images 
are  the  guardians  of  the  tomb. 

Beginning  under  this  sacrificial  table  is  a 
subterranean  channel  leading  back  to  the 
burial  chamber,  which  is  a good  sized  room 


These  images  are  the  guardians  of  the  Royal  Tombs. 


where  most  of  the  king’s  personal  possessions 
are  buried  along  with  the  body.  It  was  the 
custom  in  Korea  anciently  to  entomb  many 
of  the  king’s  wives  and  servants  alive  with 
his  body,  so  they  would  accompany  the  mon- 
arch to  the  spirit  world. 

This  tomb  is  one  of  the  oldest  around  here, 
and  dates  back  some  five  hundred  years.  In 
construction,  they  are  nearly  all  alike,  except 


88 


Glimpses  of  Korea 


that  they  vary  in  size,  and  some  do  not  have 
as  many  stone  images  around  them  as  others. 

Just  down  over  the  hill  there,  yon  observe 
a little  cluster  of  houses,  most  of  which  have 
tiled  roofs.  That  is  where  the  watchers  of 
the  tomb  live,  a company  of  them  being  en- 
gaged by  the  state.  Every  tomb  of  royalty  in 
the  country  is  thus  provided  for.  There  is 
also  a Buddhist  temple  situated  there,  where 
priests  conduct  daily  services. 

LOOKING  AT  THE  TEMPLE 

After  you  are  through  looking  at  the  tomb, 
we  will  go  down  and  see  the  temple.  Here  we 
are,  just  in  time  to  see  the  priests  go  through 
their  sacrificial  and  prayer  ceremony.  Look- 
ing through  the  door  there,  you  see  a bronze 
Buddha  sitting  upon  a sort  of  desk.  Here  to 
the  left,  on  this  table,  are  all  kinds  of  ready 
prepared  food,  which  is  left  here  as  an  offer- 
ing until  the  service  is  done,  when  it  is  taken 
away  and  eaten  by  the  priests.  You  see  the 
priests  are  on  their  knees  before  the  Buddha, 
chanting  their  prayers.  Every  few  moments, 
they  bow  themselves  until  their  faces  almost 
touch  the  floor.  They  will  keep  this  up  for  an 
hour  or  longer. 

A half  mile  from  our  houses,  on  the  west, 
is  another  temple,  which  is  occupied  by  priest- 
esses. They  are  women  who  in  childhood  and 
youth  dedicated  their  lives  to  this  purpose. 


Tombs  and  Watchers 


89 


They  wear  their  hair  cut  short  to  the  head, 
men’s  clothes,  and  never  marry.  Every  day, 
they  go  through  services  similar  to  this.  The 
gong  that  you  heard  ringing  this  morning  was 
over  there.  This  beating  of  the  gong  in  the 
early  hours  often  disturbs  people  when  they 
first  come;  but  we  get  used  to  it,  and  hardly 
realize  that  it  is  going  on. 

Often  people  who  wish  the  blessing  of  the 
Buddha  bring  an  offering  of  costly  food  here 
to  be  presented  to  it.  This  is  afterwards  eaten 
by  the  priests.  Sometimes  women  who  desire 
a blessing  will  come  here  and  dance  for  hours 
before  the  image. 

There  are  literally  thousands  of  these  places 
all  over  Korea,  where  tens  of  thousands  of 
people  are  bowing  down  to  false  gods.  The 
work  of  telling  these  people  of  their  error, 
and  pointing  them  to  the  true  God,  in  wdiom 
there  is  salvation,  is  our  appointed  task  here 
in  Korea  and  throughout  the  Ear  East.  The 
more  you  travel  over  the  country  and  are 
made  sensible  of  the  wretched  condition  of  the 
people,  the  more  you  realize  their  need  of  the 
very  thing  that  God  has  put  in  our  hands  for 
them  — the  everlasting  gospel. 


The  Sad  Funeral  Trains 


The  Shouts  of  the  Mourners  — Backwards  and  Forwards 
— Half  Drunk  — Boyal  Funeral  Two  Miles  Long  — 
Western  Advance 

Do  you  hear  those  mournful  cries  coming 
from  somewhere  beyond  our  compoimd  ? That 
is  a funeral  train  on  its  way  from  Seoul;  so 
if  we  hurry  back  to  the  mission,  you  can  get 
your  first  sight  of  a Korean  funeral. 

We  are  just  in  time,  for  here  they  come. 
The  corpse  is  under  that  silken  canopy. 
Sometimes  the  corpse  is  in  a crude  wooden 
coffin  and  sometimes  it  is  only  wrapped  in 
matting;  but  you  can  not  know  which  unless 
you  go  to  the  place  of  burial  or  to  the  house 
where  it  is  placed  upon  the  carrier.  It  is 
borne  upon  the  shoulders  of  some  twenty 
coolies ; but  sometimes  there  are  a great  many 
more,  and  sometimes  less.  The  number  of 
carriers  is  an  index  to  the  standing  and  wealth 
of  the  deceased. 

There  is  a man  with  a small  hand  bell 
dancing  along  ahead  of  the  bier,  sometimes 
facing  it,  and  sometimes  facing  forward.  As 
he  rings  the  bell,  he  sends  forth  a volley  of 
mournful  questions,  whereupon  the  carriers 
shout  back  with  all  their  might,  in  such 
mournful  notes  as  almost  to  curdle  the  blood 
in  one’s  veins. 

(90) 


The  Sad  Funeral  Eites  91 

The  mourning  shouts  are  hurled  back  and 
forth  until  the  grave  is  reached.  Because  of 
this  shouting,  the  whole  neighborhood  for 
miles  around  know  that  one  more  unfortunate 
is  being  carried  to  the  place  from  which  none 
return. 

Behind  the  bier,  clothed  in  sackcloth,  and 
with  crude  wooden  staffs  in  their  hands,  wTith 
heads  bowed,  and  with  groans  of  apparently 
great  anguish,  walk  the  mourners,  men  and 
boys.  (No  women  are  allowed  to  accompany 
the  procession.)  The  others  following  in 
rickshas  and  on  foot  are  friends  or  relatives 
of  the  departed. 

Now  the  procession  stops,  and  the  carriers 
weave  from  side  to  side,  and  drop  backward 
a few  paces.  They  seem  to  be  making  an 
effort  to  go  ahead,  but  still  they  go  back. 
They  do  this  at  intervals  along  the  road. 
Sometimes,  too,  they  stop  and  offer  sacrifices 
to  the  supposed  spirit  of  the  departed.  They 
do  all  this  to  fool  this  spirit  into  thinking  that 
their  love  for  the  dead  is  so  great  that  they 
are  even  loath  to  carry  his  body  to  the  tomb. 
They  fear  lest  his  spirit  become  angry  and 
bring  a curse  upon  them. 

I went  to  see  a funeral  start  one  day.  It 
was  ten  o’clock  in  the  morning.  The  men 
were  adjusting  the  canopy  of  the  bier.  Silk 
cloth  of  all  the  colors  of  the  rainbow  was  spread 
over  a wooden  framework.  Tassels  hung  from 


92 


Glimpses  of  Korea 


beneath  and  along  the  side,  while  the'  heads 
of  dragons  protruded  from  the  corners. 

THE  CARRIERS  HALF  DRUNK 

Presently  a great  earthen  vessel  of  liquor 
was  brought,  and  those  who  were  to  carry  the 
bier  dipped  in  their  gourd-shell  dippers  and 
poured  the  liquor  down  their  throats  like  water. 
When  they  had  thus  nerved  themselves  for 
the  ordeal,  the  crude  coffin  with  the  body 
within  was  carried  out  and  placed  on  the 
carrying  frame,  and  the  silken  canopy  was 
placed  over  it.  Then  the  carriers  raised  it 
to  their  shoulders,  and  they  were  off  in  such  a 
procession  as  you  see  here.  These  carriers, 
too,  are  half  drunk ; look  how  they  walk. 

What  a contrast  the  whole  dismal  picture  is 
to  one  where  the  mourners  mourn  not  without 
hope ! What  wretchedness  is  here,  what  hope- 
lessness! With  mourning  they  are  borne 
along,  and  hopeless  they  are  placed  in  the 
grave.  How  well  the  devil  has  succeeded  in 
these  heathen  lands,  in  his  warfare  against 
God  and  His  plan  of  redemption,  can  be 
better  grasped  by  watching  a funeral  train 
than  perhaps  in  any  other  way. 

Now  that  we  are  back  home,  I want  to  tell 
you  of  a royal  funeral  we  saw  a few  years 
ago.  It  was  the  funeral  of  the  first  king  that 
Korea  had  buried  for  well  over  half  a century, 
and  it  was  made  a grand  affair.  Nearly  half 


The  Sad  Funeral  Rites  93 

a million  dollars  was  expended  in  the  funeral, 
with  the  interment  and  the  arrangement  of 
the  tomb.  Thousands  of  natives  from  all  over 
the  peninsula  gathered  here  at  Seoul  to  wit- 
ness the  ceremonies. 

The  funeral  car  was  a mammoth  affair, 
with  a priest  riding  on  it  at  either  end.  It 


The  funeral  car  was  a mammoth  affair,  with  a priest  riding  on  it  at  either  end. 


was  carried  on  the  backs  of  some  five  hundred 
coolies  to  the  place  of  interment,  about  twenty 
miles  distant.  This  took  two  days.  They 
stopped  for  hours  at  certain  places  along  the 
way  to  offer  sacrifice  and  do  honor  to  the 
dead. 

The  funeral  procession  was  over  two  miles 
long,  consisting  of  soldiers,  sedan  chairs,  great 
wooden  horses,  hundreds  of  men  carrying 


7 


94: 


Glimpses  of  Korea 


banners  and  lanterns,  with  hundreds  of 
mourners  in  rickshas,  carriages,  and  auto- 
mobiles. The  sedan  chairs,  of  which  there 
were  many,  were  each  carried  by  some  twenty 
coolies.  These  held  the  personal  effects  of  the 
departed  monarch,  and  were  to  be  buried  with 
his  body. 

The  first  part  of  the  processional  march 
was  within  the  city,  and  was  a Japanese  state 
funeral;  but  after  they  passed  without  the 
gate  of  Seoul,  it  was  considered  a private 
affair,  and  was  conducted  by  the  household 
of  the  king,  in  accordance  with  ancient  Korean 
customs  and  ceremonies. 

GREAT  CHANGES 

As  the  grand  procession  moved  through  the 
city  streets  and  then  out  upon  the  country 
highways,  the  tens  of  thousands  of  Koreans 
set  up  an  awful  weeping  and  wailing  as  the 
bier  was  carried  past.  Many  of  them  bowed 
themselves  to  the  earth;  for,  good  or  bad,  he 
had  been  their  king  for  nearly  a half  century, 
and  they  wished  to  do  him  honor  as  they  car- 
ried him  to  the  grave. 

The  procession  went  by  this  same  road, 
right  in  front  of  our  compound.  Some  of  us 
went  up  to  my  office,  where  we  had  a clear 
view.  As  I watched  it,  I thought  of  the 
great  changes  that  had  taken  place  in  this 
land  since  as  a mere  boy  in  1864:  the  king  was 


The  Sad  Funeral  Rites 


95 


called  to  the  Korean  throne.  During  his 
reign,  nation  after  nation  had  knocked  at  the 
doors  of  Korea,  and  had  attempted  to  open 
the  land  to  outside  influence  and  commerce, 


The  funeral  procession  was  over  two  miles  long. 

only  to  he  turned  away,  and  often  with 
gunfire. 

It  was  after  the  warships  of  the  United 
States  had  been  fired  upon,  and  they  in  turn 
had  demolished  the  little  fortress  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Han  River,  that  the  notable  tablet  was 
raised  in  Seoul  which  read:  “The  Western 
barbarians  have  attacked  and  injured  us,  with 
a view  either  to  make  war  upon  us,  or  to 
force  treaties  upon  us.  If  we  consent  to  the 
latter,  it  will  be  the  betrayal  of  our  country. 
Let  our  descendants  to  the  ten  thousandth 


96 


Glimpses  of  Korea 


generation  bear  this  in  mind.”  In  various 
other  places,  hostile  tablets  were  likewise 
raised  up,  warning  the  populace  against  the 
“ Western  barbarians,”  as  they  called  all  the 
Westerners. 

But  tablets  and  threats,  or  even  guns,  could 
not  long  roll  back  the  mighty  tide  of  civili- 
zation that  was  pressing  upon  the  doors  of 
Korea.  This  same  monarch,  now  dead,  had 
been  a factor  in  all  this  hostility.  He  lived 
to  see  his  country  invaded  and  uplifted  by 
the  very  forces  that  he  had  tried  so  hard  to 
resist.  Probably  never  before  in  the  history 
of  the  world  has  a monarch  seen  his  realm 
pass  through  so  many  sweeping  changes  as 
this  king  saw  Korea  pass  through  during  his 
lifetime. 

Surely  God,  who  is  preparing  all  nations 
for  the  speedy  proclamation  of  the  gospel  mes- 
sage for  this  time,  has  had  a hand  in  the  open- 
ing of  Korea.  And  more,  He  who  has  accom- 
plished all  this  is  able  to  carry  that  message  to 
this  nation,  and  to  all  nations,  by  influencing 
His  people  here  and  at  home  to  consecrate  their 
lives  and  their  means  to  the  finishing  of  this 
great  work. 


At  the  Church  Service 


Going  to  Church  and  Sabbath-School  — Girls  Not  Wanted 
— The  Missionary  Meeting  — The  Same  Story  — Hope 

Ahead 


Well,  children,  as  you  know,  to-morrow  is 
Sabbath,  while  to-night  we  have  our  mission- 
ary meeting  in  the  chapel  over  the  pressroom 
of  the  printing  plant.  Of  course,  you  will 
want  to  go  to-night  and  get  your  first  ex- 
perience in  attending  a Korean  meeting.  So 
I suppose  I might  tell  you  a little  of  what  you 
may  expect  to  see  there.  It  will  help  you  to 
understand  things,  and  will  give  you  a deeper 
interest. 

When  the  people  come  in  to-night,  you  will 
see  that  the  men  and  boys  all  file  over  to  their 
side  of  the  chapel  and  sit  down  upon  the  floor, 
while  the  women  and  girls  will  go  to  the  other 
side  and  sit  down  on  the  little  round  woven 
straw  mats.  You  will  also  see  that  each,  upon 
being  seated,  bows  his  head  in  silent  prayer 
for  a few  moments. 

Even  we  foreigners  observe  the  rules  of  the 
country  when  it  comes  to  taking  sides  in  the 
chapel,  but  we  do  not  always  follow  the  cus- 
tom of  sitting  on  the  floor.  We  try  to  have  a 
few  chairs  on  hand  to  sit  on. 

After  all  are  thus  seated,  and  the  hour  for 
the  services  arrives,  the  leader  and  the  secre- 

(97) 


98 


Glimpses  of  Korea 


tary  will  go  forward,  and  the  meeting  will  be 
opened  by  the  singing  of  one  of  the  same 
songs  that  we  use  for  worship  in  America. 
The  words,  to  be  sure,  will  be  in  the  Korean 
tongue,  and  you  will  not  understand  them; 
but  you  can  understand  the  tune,  and  get  the 
spirit  of  it  all. 

As  the  meeting  progresses,  you  will  observe 
very  little  difference  in  the  general  plan  of 
the  meeting  from  that  at  home,  except  that, 
as  with  the  singing,  you  will  understand  noth- 
ing that  is  said  unless  some  one  is  beside 
you  to  interpret. 

The  Koreans  feel  their  responsibilities  as 
missionaries,  with  the  result  that  nearly  as 
many  attend  this  meeting  as  any  other  church 
service.  They  have  done  very  well  in  the 
distribution  of  tracts,  and  the  big  canvassing 
week  idea  for  the  common  people  is  gaining 
ground  rapidly. 

If  you  were  to  go  out  and  visit  almost  any 
of  our  country  churches,  you  would  find  the 
majority  of  the  members  regular  home  mis- 
sionaries, doing  creditable  work  indeed  com- 
pared with  their  knowledge  and  abilities. 
They  sense  the  importance  of  making  known 
to  others  what  God  has  graciously  made 
known  to  them. 

Our  Sabbath-school  will  be  held  at  ten 
o’clock  to-morrow  morning.  At  the  Sabbath- 
school,  you  will  see  between  thirty  and  forty 


At  the  Church  Service  99 

boys,  besides  the  regular  church  members. 
Most  of  these  boys  are  the  children  of  heathen 
families,  but  are  attending  our  native  church 
school  here.  We  believe  that  many  among 
them  will  be  led  to  the  Saviour  as  a result 
of  having  thus  come  into  contact  with  the 
Bible.  We  have  a good  many  young  men  in 
Korea  holding  responsible  positions  who  were 
won  to  Christ  thus,  or  while  acting  as  servants 
in  some  of  the  foreigners’  homes. 

Most  of  these  boys  who  attend  the  Sabbath- 
school  learn  perfectly  the  memory  verses,  and 
also  secure  perfect  attendance  cards.  Some 
of  them  are  rather  dirty  and  unkempt;  but 
there  are  also  wide-awake  ones  among  them, 
who  are  as  quick  to  catch  a point  as  you 
children  are. 

GIRLS  NOT  WANTED 

You  will  find  only  a few  girls  at  the  Sab- 
bath-school, and  these  the  children  of  our 
church  members.  You  know  that  as  a general 
rule,  little  girls  are  not  thought  much  of  in 
Korea, — nor  big  ones  either,  as  far  as  that 
is  concerned.  A little  girl  can  carry  a younger 
child  on  her  back;  and  when  she  grows  up, 
she  can  become  somebody’s  servant  through 
a marriage  ceremony.  Beyond  this,  girls 
seem  to  have  no  value  from  the  Korean  stand- 
point. 

The  Koreans  don’t. believe  in  teaching  the 
girls  to  read;  for  the  nearer  they  can  keep 


100 


Glimpses  of  Korea 


them  like  animals,  the  more  physical  labor 
they  can  get  out  of  them,  and  this  seems  to 
be  the  desired  end  for  Korean  women.  About 
the  only  time  they  have  any  privileges  is  after 
they  have  sons  old  enough  to  marry ; and  by 
that  time,  they  have  become  so  hardened  by  the 
terrible  battle  of  life  that  they  are  too  hard- 
hearted to  bear  the  trust  rightly. 

You  will  find  the  wives  of  our  church  mem- 
bers present  at  the  Sabbath-school,  and  you 
will  find  that  most  of  them  can  read  a little; 
for  as  soon  as  they  become  Christians,  we  do 
all  we  can  to  see  that  in  some  way  they  are 
taught  to  read  the  native  characters,  so  that 
they  can  read  the  word  of  God  for  themselves. 

The  women  are  not  held  down  because  they 
are  mentally  deficient,  for  they  are  usually 
bright  and  quick  to  learn.  Since  the  Japa- 
nese have  taken  over  the  country,  the  same 
school  privileges  are  offered  to  the  girls  as  to 
the  boys;  yet  few  of  the  parents,  aside  from 
those  in  the  cities,  accept  the  aid  thus  held  out 
to  the  girls.  But  all  missions,  of  whatsoever 
denomination,  advocate  and  strive  to  advance 
the  same  standard  for  both  sexes.  Thus 
Korea  is  slowly  changing  under  the  various 
influences,  and  the  women  of  Korea  have 
something  better  to  look  forward  to. 

You  will  observe  that  the  Sabbath-school, 
like  the  missionary  meeting,  is  conducted 
the  same  as  at  home.  We  have  the  lesson 


At  the  Church  Service 


101 


review  and  class  recitation  periods  as  you 
have  them  there.  A good  many  of  the  people 
follow  the  daily  lesson  study  program,  with 
the  result  that  the  class  periods  are  times  of 
intense  interest  to  all.  And  the  Sabbath- 
school  lessons  that  are  such  an  important  fac- 


The  Women  of  Korea 


tor  at  home  in  building  the  people  up  in  the 
truth,  are  equally  effective  here. 

THE  GOSPEL  STORY  DOES  THE  WORK 

We  have  to  charge  the  same  price  for  the 
lesson  quarterlies  here  that  we  charge  in 
America,  which,  when  compared  with  the 
money  values  of  the  country,  where  a laborer 
only  gets  fifty  cents  a day,  is  rather  high; 
still  the  native  Christians  almost  without  ex- 
ception buy  and  use  the  quarterly. 


102 


Glimpses  of  Kokea 


After  Sabbath-school,  we  have  a church 
service  at  which  time  the  same  precious  truth  is 
taught  from  the  same  all-powerful  word  of 
God  that  you  have  learned  to  love  and  obey. 
All  this  will  be  in  a tongue  strange  to  you. 
Yet,  it  isn’t  so  much  the  language  through 
which  the  message  is  given,  but  rather  the 
effect  that  that  message  has  upon  those  who 
accept  it,  that  counts. 

Here,  while  the  gospel  story  is  told  in  a 
strange  language,  you  will  see  that  it  produces 
the  same  good  fruit  as  in  America.  It  brings 
love,  joy,  peace,  and  all  the  other  Christian 
graces.  It  is  thus  preparing  a people  in  this 
far-away  land  who  will  be  among  the  number 
of  whom  it  shall  presently  be  said,  “Here  is 
the  patience  of  the  saints:  here  are  they  that 
keep  the  commandments  of  God,  and  the 
faith  of  Jesus.” 

Now,  children,  I have  finished  my  little 
talk;  for  I am  sure  that  from  to-night,  you 
will  be  initiated  into  the  fellowship  of  the 
Korean  church,  where  you  will  go  on  learning 
more  of  this  people  than  I could  ever  tell  you. 

I hope  that  the  little  I have  said  will  give 
you  a desire  to  know  more  about  this  people, 
and  will  act  as  a kind  of  foundation  for  future 
study,  whether  through  books  or  otherwise. 
The  more  you  learn  of  those  beyond,  the  more 
ready  will  be  your  sympathy  for  them,  and 


At  the  Church  Service 


103 


the  stronger  will  be  the  tie  that  will  bind  you 
to  them;  for  they  are  all  the  children  of  God, 
some  gone  astray,  to  be  sure,  but  still  His 
children,  whatsoever  their  color,  or  race,  or 
nationality. 

“ Another  good  book  finished!  Oh,  what 
can  I read  next?”  did  we  hear  you  say? 
Well,  let  us  think  a minute.  We  have  so 
many  good  books,  wre  want  to  suggest  them 
all.  But  here  is  a selected  list  for  boys  and 
girls  who  enjoy  true  stories  of  animals  and 
birds,  and  of  boys  and  girls  in  far-away  lands 
— yes,  and  of  the  common  things  about  us 
as  told  by  “Uncle  Ben.” 

At  Home  with  the  Hakkas  in  South  China . . $ .25* 


Elo  the  Eagle  and  Other  Stories 1.50 

Gospel  Primer  No.  2 1.00 

House  We  Live  In 1.50 

Hurue,  a Boy  of  the  South  Seas 25* 

In  Beaverdom  and  Other  Nature  Stories. . .25* 

Little  Bible  Boys 75* 

Manana  Land  (Mexico) 75 

On  Our  Block 75 

Selections  for  Our  Little  Folks 1.00 

Strange  Peoples  and  Customs 1.25 

Uncle  Ben’s  Cloverfield 1.75 

Uncle  Ben’s  Cobblestones 1.75 

Up  and  Down  the  Andes  on  a Burro 25* 

With  the  Wild  Men  of  Borneo 1.25 

♦Paper  covers  ; all  others  are  cloth. 


Prices  are  postpaid.  Higher  in  Canada. 

Pacific  Press  Publishing  Association 

MOUNTAIN  VIEW,  CALIFORNIA 


